UP THE YANGTZE

Canada, 2007, 93 minutes, Colour.
Jerry Bo Yu Chen, Campbell Ping He, Cindy Shui Yu.
Directed by Yung Chang.

Up the Yangtze is an excellent Canadian documentary, made by a Chinese -Canadian. He had previously made an award-winning documentary about the food industry and migration, Earth to Mouth.

The Yangtze is one of China’s best known rivers, noted for World War Two action in the film Yangtze Incident. It became the centre of world attention with the building of the Three Gorges Dam, opened in 2006 (and the subject of the award-winning feature film, Still Life).

The director takes his relatives on a trip up the Yangtze, discovering what happened with the moving of people for the Three Gorges Dam, the effect on people’s lives, the older generation – and the younger generation who are getting jobs on the ferries, in the tourist industry. One of the facets of the young people’s new jobs is that they have become very worldly, focused on money, a materialistic perspective on life which the film criticises.

The film is beautiful to look at, interesting in its presentation of the changing China at the beginning of the 21st century, a glimpse of the transitions and the effect on people.


1.A documentary and its perception on China in the 21st century? The images of the past, the ideologies of the past, periods of change? The future?

2.The film as a docudrama? The narrative, the young people acting themselves? The tourists? The Canadian background of the director, his father and the trip, his memories? The son and his trying to understand China from a Canadian point of view?

3.The colour photography, the vistas of the river, the towns, the dams, the empty towns before the flooding, the poor houses, the skyscrapers in the city? The different faces of China?

4.The luxury boat, the tourists, wealthy, their style, overweight, loud, their comments about the service? Big tippers? The musical score? The songs performed for the tourists? The Chinese songs in the background, traditional?

5.The generations in China: the older generation, the officials, corruptions in the towns? The crew of the boat? The services? The tourists? The attention to the tourists, the rules, the limits on conversations, the flattery, the tips? The older generation compared with the contemporary generation and the issues of selflessness? The Three Gorges Dams as a state enterprise and bigger than individuals? The extraordinary self-centredness, language and behaviour of some of the younger generation?

6.Cindy’s family: poor, the parents illiterate, the father working as a coolie, his children, Cindy and her wanting to study, aiming to go to university, her grades insufficient? At home, growing their own food on the side of the river, harvesting it? Having to move? Cindy on the boat, her love for her parents, missing them, returning home? The visit of the parents to the ship? Going to their new home and trying to settle in?

7.Jerry and his friends, drinking, nightclubbing, karaoke, wealth, the spoilt single children? Going to work on the boat, the interviews, ambitions, training? The work, the range of work on the boat, Cindy in the kitchen, the hosting of the guests? Jerry and his clients, the tips, wanting to make money, singing for the guests, his being sacked for his self-centredness?

8.The trainer, his interviews with the applicants, his continued optimism, smiling, his discussions about the face of China and his optimistic views?

9.The members of the staff, the numbers on board, the chef in the kitchen, the wash-up work, the waiting on tables? Learning English?

10.The cities, the wealth, the buildings? Modernity?

11.The build-up to the dam at the Three Gorges, the change in the Yangtze River, the indicators for the rising of the water? The final visuals of the family’s house, the rising of the water, overcoming the land, the house?

12.An insight into the changes in China? Mao and his attitude towards the Yangtze and the building of the three dams? The socialist vision? His swimming the Yangtze? Yet the collapse of aspects of communism? The capitalistic view of so many, the younger generation, the tourists? The future of China?