I feel that this article goes along with my topic. Strong developers bullying local citizens. The wealthy are taking advantage of the poorer classes. Despite houses already existing the developers decided to bulldoze the properties. Those who held out were tricked into leaving their houses, upon returning they find that their houses have been destroyed. The citizens are right to be upset. What is the value of property in this newly democratic system if the government can decide one day to just destroy it. The housing official said that about 280 people have been satisfied with their compensation but i would like to relate my topic to this argument. When all the people were displaced by the three gorges dam project they too were compensated. Those brave enough to talk to foreign reporters said that they were not happily compensated. In many cases the amount promised was not the amount delivered. How can the government allow this type of treatment to its own citizens? It appears that the modernization of china has its prices.
I am interested to see everyones opinion on how they think this movie portrays China.
Is Blind shaft (in your opinion) a real depiction of China or is it merely similar to “the hills have eyes” or “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”? Do you think these events have taken place or could take place?
I get the feeling that these events represent the struggle that the average Chinese citizen goes through. Maybe they don’t club and force a cave-in on other people but they do feel desperate. I want to see what you guys think about the movie.
I have further narrowed down my topic. I will now focus on the wealth disparity gap caused by the three gorges dam project. Some of the key questions i will be focusing on are; What happened to the people who were forced from their homes? Did they receive fair compensation or did the government and corporations cheat them? How much money did the average citizen receive as compensation from their loss? How do the displaced citizens live in their new environments? What efforts were made by the government to save historical sites? How is the Three Gorges Dam Project helping China’s economy? Was it worth the approximated 24 billion dollars? Will the Dam pay off in time? Is the Dam helping the people of China or just making the wealth disparity gap larger? How has the wealth disparity affected the project? Have the wealthy Chinese made benefits to China at the expense or the lower class?
Welp the Chinese government has admitted that they are not supporting the efforts to save historic sites with enough money. They say that only 10% of what is needed is being provided. Also they say that their efforts are being headed by architects and engineers. It would seem that the efforts need to be headed by I don’t know… a archeologist? a historian? hell a french major at a community college.
It seems that they threw together a rag tag bunch of yes-men who would do as they were told and not care about historical significance or damaging artifacts. Very sad indeed.
There are several questions which I plan to address in my thesis paper. Why was the Dam project, which was first proposed in 1919, actually started in 1989? What were the reasons for its delay and what were the reasons why it was continued? What happened to the people who were forced from their homes? Did they receive fair compensation or did the government cheat them? How much money did the average citizen receive? How do the displaced citizens live in their new environments? What efforts were made by the government to save historical sites? How is the Three Gorges Dam Project helping China’s economy? Was it worth the approximated 24 billion dollars? Will the Dam pay off in time? How is the Dam helping the people of China? How has the wealth disparity affected the project? Have the wealthy Chinese made benefits to China at the expense or the lower class?
This is where i am at so far.
When i first saw this picture i immediately thought of Rosie the Riviter. This is a poster that was made in the early 1950’s. Very little of China was industrialized. This poster speaks to the masses that China will industrialize and that women will play a role in it. Her job is traditionally a mans job.
picture courtesy of Http://www.iisg.nl/~landsberger/ei.html
I believe i have found my topic. I have found several sources (mostly articles) on the Three Gorge Dam and its effects on China both culturally and environmentally. The building of the dam was affected by several major events in China’s history. Corruption has plauged the dam causing controversy over the reliability and the quality of the dam. A area rich in Chinese history was destroyed when the valley was flooded. Several animals are without home and fish are unable to make it to their spawning grounds. The Tzange River Dolphin is predicted to become extinct because of the dam.
Though there are troubles with the dam it brings power to a overpopulated country which has struggled to make power available to all of its citizens. It also is a demonstration of the capabilities of a up and coming world power. I believe that there is enough information available for a quality research paper.
I was having a hard time finding articles on my topic….but then, like a five dollar bill found in a jacket you haven’t worn in a long time, i found it. It found me rather but it has no right to brag. I typed in my topic on google and it had a couple pictures at the very top. I clicked on google picture search and there were several pictures which were accompanied by articles published in newspapers and magazines. It sure did make my life easier.
I am playing around with the notion of the trials and tribulations of Three Gorges Dam. This dam is the worlds largest dam. It demonstrates Chinas technilogical advancement as well as their government corruption. It was completed in 2006 and has been talked about in China since Sun Yat-Sen held power in the late teens and early twenties. It was turned down at the time but the communist government decided to go with it in 1956. Delays since then included economic problems, fear of soviet sabotage, and depressions.
There are several benefits as well as several controversies which stem from the project. It has been plauged by scandels and corruption as well as displacing about 2 million people. The area that is being flooded is a rich archeological area which could shed more light onto China’s past. It is also said to eventually cause the extinction of the Yangtze dolphin.
It is the worlds largest hydroelectric dam and aside from more electrical power in China it will allow China to minimize flood damage caused by the Yangtze.
I would want to focus on the reasons why Mao decided to go with it in the fifties and why they weren’t able to start construction until much later. How it affected and was effected by the great leap forward, third front, and the cultural revolution. Why was the old government unable to fulfill their original plans. Why did this appeal to the communist government?
These are just thoughts in motion i am sure i will be able to go into greater detail after i have done enough research.
Yesterday i was watching tv and i saw a commercial for hair gel. The commercial seemed to be set in China having all asian characters. Kids were in school and were in bleek colored school uniforms marching in lines in bleek colored hallways. Then by the grace of god one of those kids recieved some hairgel which immediately turned him into his own person. He then handed it to a girl who also gained individuality immediately. The teacher kicked them out of the classrom and then they held hands as they ran down the hallways. I didn’t quite know what to think…
I will try to find the actual commercial on youtube.
