Local DiskResettlement Problems of the Three Gorges Darn:Resettlement Problems of the Three Gorges Darn:A Field Report by Wu MingI. IntroductionConstruction is now under way on the world’s largest hydroelectric dam, at the Three Gorges at the middlereaches of the Yangtze River. If all proceeds on schedule. in the year 2003, water will fill its huge reservoir ata level of 135 meters above sea level to allow the first group of electrical generators to begin operation. Theentire project is to be completed in 2009. To make way for this ambitious project, the Chinese governmentsays 1 .2 million people will he relocated. Critics of the darn, however, predict that the total number ofresettlers will actually be much higher: between 1 .6 million and 1.9 million. About half of these will be urbanresidents and the other half are rural residents who will need either new farmland or urban jobs to restart theirlives.Although a relatively small number of people have been relocated since ground was broken on the dam in1994, serious problems have already emerged. Official statements give the impression that resettlement isproceeding smoothly, but in reality it has been plagued by mismanagement, official corruption, inadequatecompensation, and a shortage of farmland and lack of jobs for the resettlers. Resentment and foot-draggingopposition to resettlement is widespread. presaging a major crisis if the dam project continues as planned. Myreport on these problems is based on interviews conducted during January 1998 in five of the 22 counties thatwill be partially flooded by the darn. The people 1 interviewed included workers, farmers, small-businessowners, and local officials in Yunyang, Fengjie, and Wushan counties in Sichuan Province and in Badong andZlgui counties in Hubei Province, from which a total of 420.000 people arc scheduled to be relocated.II. Routine Falsification of Figuresone fundamental problem in assessing the Three Gorges resettlement program is that the official figuresappear to be false, and the success stories fabricated. For example, four Sichuan journalists who are assignedto report full-time on the progress of resettlement told me that county officials in Sichuan and Hubei claimedat a conference in .January that 200,000 people had already been resettled. If accurate, that number wouldmean that resettlement was ahead of schedule. But the journalists explained the 200,000 figure was anResettlement Problems of the Three Gorges Darn:file:///A|/yangstze.htm (1 of 14) [10/15/2001 3:30:50 PM]exaggeration by local officials wishing to impress their superiors. One journalist said that he had traveledextensively in the Three Gorges area, and that the actual figures were generally no more than half the officialones. Even senior officials at the Three Gorges Project Resettlement Bureau, he said, do not believe that200,000 people have been resettled. Several days after our conversation, a report appeared on the front pageof Wanxian Daily in which Qi Fin, the head of the Three Gorges Project Resettlement Bureau, was quoted assaying that only 100,000 people had been resettled so far. The report did not say whether these people hadbeen properly resettled according to the governments own definition, namely that they must he found a newhome, new livelihood and compensation for their losses.Interviews in Yunyang County demonstrated why it is difficult for even the head of the Three GorgesResettlement Bureau to get hold of reliable information. Yunyang has 120.000 people slated for relocation. Inearly January, the Yunyang Counly government opened an exhibition on resettlement. A chart at theexhibition listed three categories of resettlers. First, 5,940 people were identified as "productivelyresettled" (shengchan anzhi). meaning that they had either new farmland or new factory jobs. Second. 2,610people were said to be "residentially resettled" (xhenghuo anzhi). meaning a place had been found for them tore-establish their homes. And third. 187 people were classified as "account-closed resettlers" (xiaohaoYemen). meaning they had received their share of the compensation and moving expenses and the authoritieshad no further responsibility towards them. All these figures are problematic, if not completely false,according to a Yunyang official. In a private conversation, this official pointed out that the actual figure forthe "productively resettled" people (those who had been given new land or industrial jobs) was at most 3,000.At this early stage of the resettlement program, he explained, the people the county government was tiying torelocate were mostly farmers, hut only 2.000 of the 24,367 mu of farmland that has reportedly been preparedfor resettlers was usable He said the rest of the newly opened land was described by local farmers as "lookinglike ditches from a distance and like pigsties at close."As for the "account-closed resettlers," this actually referred to an unfortunate group ot farmers who had beenpersuaded to move to the island province of Hainan under a deal that was struck by Yunyang county andHainan officials. They returned to Yunyang six months later, complaining that they had been cheated. One ofthese farmers said in an interview that he and his fellow villagers had been promised a good life in 1-Iainan butfound the resettlement site uninhabitable. Now they have exhausted the moving expenses they had receivedfrom the government to travel to and then leave Hainan, and are not eligible for any further compensation.They have returned to their old homes, but will still have to move when the water rises. Like the uselessnessResettlement Problems of the Three Gorges Darn:file:///A|/yangstze.htm (2 of 14) [10/15/2001 3:30:50 PM]of the farmland in Yunyang, the resettlement officials have covered up the failure of this scheme to movefarmers to Hainan.There are people who have been appropriately resettled in the Three Gorges area, with fine new homes, jobsand compensation. In l3adong and Zigui counties in Hubei Province, I met six rural families who wereenjoying a comfortable life after resettlement. They had even opened small shops in the new county seats.These families explained, however, that they were prospering largely because they had been designated as"model resettler" yimin dianxin), which means that they had received preferential treatment. These familieswere showcased by local officials as success stories both to persuade other farmers to relocate and to impresssenior