West of the Yangtze

     Yung Chang's documentary film Up the Yangtze offers a stark look into the lives of many people who live and work on China's most important river. Though often overlooked, rivers are still an incredible resource for sustaining human life, as they provide an efficient means of transport, food, and an infinite and completely green energy source. Much like the Mississippi River to Americans, the Yangtze river represents a way of life and is a cultural staple, and is often represented in a manner that is nearly gone from today's world.

   The Mississippi River is nearly ubiquitous in the culture of the American south. I grew up in the Florida panhandle, which is still a good four hour drive from it and still I could find it mentioned in so many places. The word itself was fun to spell, and I remember singing the little nursery rhyme song with many of my friends. The river exists in the legends of Tom Sawyer and the ever-present happenings of William Faulkner's novels. As a child I began to think of the river almost as a legend; not in the sense of it being fantastic, but it had just become so much larger than life. Having been to New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and other cities on its banks, I can say that it definitely lives up to this status. There is something about it that draws your eye to it and it seems to give off this aura of importance that you can not help but be impressed. 

   This is what I saw while watching the film. Cindy's family has lived near the river for years, and they see it as a way to help them out of their financial troubles through Cindy's job on the cruise ship. The fertile soil from its banks help to grow the vegetables they eat. This is just the perspective of one family, though. Throughout the film, we get to see how the Yangtze impacts and astonishes countless other people. The tourists on the ship are experiencing the river from a vacation standpoint, so they are having a great time exploring where the river takes them. The workers on the ship know that the river and the ship will bring them money they can then use to better their lives. The citizens of the country know that the river can bring them a useful energy source to improve their lives. And yet, when the Three Gorges Dam is shown, it is viewed as a triumph. Why? Even Cindy's father, who does not truly understand why the river was dammed, makes a comment that he is surprised the government succeeded in constructing the dam. The Yangtze, much like the Mississippi, is truly larger than life.

   The film did a fantastic job of showing how representation plays a key role in our perception of people and cultures that we are familiar with. When comparing these two rivers, the way they are each viewed by their culture is represented by the rich way of life that has been built up around them.