Date: Thu, 20 Dec 2001 01:55:58 -0800 (PST)
From: “Benjamin Sandler” <ibenibeni@yahoo.com>
Subject: Bittersweet return
To: Everyone

Hello to all,

For the past week and a half I’ve been moving from city to city along the Yangtze up until the Three Gorges Dam construction site. As in much of China, there was extreme irony and juxtaposition of rich and poor, old and new, corporate enterprise and street vending... However, in the cities and countryside that will be submerged next year, the polarities seemed to be accentuated... Construction as well as demolition was occurring simultaneously, and at accelerated paces. One could sense desperateness in the air, a last and explosive effort to extract what little more could be extracted from the old and familiar, before having to switch to new ways of life and the unknown.

My journey took me on what felt like a virtual tour of Atlantis... All the way I could imagine the water rising and gradually devouring all that was before me, not just the buildings and cliffs, but the history of each place... We always wonder what the walls would say if they could talk... These walls will only be talking to those that can pick up sonar.

I encountered a much more open and jovial manner of the people in this region. I don’t know if it has anything to do with the imminent submergence, though I suspect part of it may be a last ditch expression of pride in their homes. They seemed considerably more enthused by a foreigner’s interest in every little thing.

Each step of the way was a new piece of the puzzle. In one case they were building a massive wall to protect the city from the reservoir... Many cities were marked with red lines indicating where the water level will be... In all cases the most activity and life was taking place below these lines. In one city, every building that fell below the line was marked in red with the Chinese character for “destroy”. Seeing this seemed on the order of a Biblical story like the one of lamb’s blood on doors, to indicate the slaying of a Jewish family’s first born.

Whole new cities have been erected on higher ground, some close by, and some in the middle of nowhere. Most are still under construction, and activity is sparse, except for that of hammer and chisel... concrete and crane. Though some people have moved to their new residences, one could see completely vacant apartment buildings. On the other hand, some areas have been completely evacuated. I chartered a boat to one remote village, where all that was left was a skeleton of what used to be. A roofless schoolhouse still had writing on the chalkboard, though it will, no doubt, be washed away.

I did make it to the dam site, though I had briefly decided not to, thinking that the closest I would get to it was by boat as I sailed passed it the first time. Though it was somewhat of a military lockdown, I did manage to get on top of the dam itself, only to be quickly escorted off. What I saw was a mammoth ordeal, and though I don’t know the details of its geological engineering, I do have a gut feeling that any battle with nature is always a losing one in the end.

One day of decompression, and I will be on my way home. There are many things I will miss about China, but I will be better off planning a trip when it is not so cold next time... I look forward to cleaner air, a good cup of coffee, and to seeing my friends.

Love to all... -Ben