4. Mega Dams and Resistance: The Case of the Three Gorges Dam, China

To international observers of resistance against mega dams, the Chinese peasantry may seem rather passive. China builds dams. It builds lots of them. Time after time the Chinese Government seems to encounter little resistance. Perhaps the most infamous of these constructions is the Three Gorges Project (TGP) on the Yangtze River. It is the world’s largest dam and it was built with seemingly minimal resistance from those it directly affected. The dam was and remains high profile. This megalith of engineering graced the pages of National Geographic in the late 1990s and it captured the attention of the world’s media, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and international banks. It also attracted criticism within China and abroad. The contention drew tourists from all over the world on long journeys to say goodbye to a place they did not know. However, for all the outside attention there was another group of people, a large group, who had to move to make way for the project. Some of them resisted and it is their resistance that this chapter explores.