The Poor in China on River Without a Paddle in Documentary ‘Up the Yangtze’

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CHICAGO – China is on the world’s mind. The once-mysterious communist “enemy” is now the economic friend of all the essential profiteers.

There’s a defining joke told in the new documentary “Up the Yangtze” about American and Chinese businessmen going traveling on a river. They come to a fork in the journey with the signs “socialist” and “capitalist” illustrating the next turn.

Rating: 3.0/5.0

The American picks the capitalist right turn and the Chinese businessman wants the same route just make sure the turn signal indicates left to socialist. “Up the Yangtze” is a documentary that expounds upon China in transition.

Read Patrick McDonald’s full review of “Up the Yangtze” in our reviews section. View our full, high-resolution “Up the Yangtze” image gallery.

Through a new dam project in the Three Gorges area of the Yangtze River, parts of former communities will be sacrificed to new, higher river levels. This film explores the poor people on the banks being forced out with no recompense and with nowhere else to go.

In one such family, a 16-year-old daughter is sent out to work on the cruise ships on the Yangtze.

She is to cater to the foreign visitors who must see China even though the China they see is about to be destroyed. What follows is her transition from pariah peasant to a modern girl courtesy of a paycheck and a couple of willing-to-educate peers.

“Up the Yangtze,” which is directed and written by Yung Chang and features Jerry Bo Yu Chen, Campbell Ping He and Cindy Shui Yu, opened in Chicago on June 20, 2008 at the Music Box Theatre.

Continue reading for Patrick McDonald’s full “Up the Yangtze” review.

Chen Bo Yu (Jerry) in Liberty Square in Chongqing City in “Up the Yangtze”. Photo credit: Linix Fan

Tourists on sampans in the Lesser Three Gorges on the Yangtze in “Up the Yangtze”. Photo credit: Jonathan Chang

Continue reading for Patrick McDonald’s full “Up the Yangtze” review.