Nu Jiang, A River Endangered - Vincent & Houri

Foreword
With today’s rapid economic growth in China, a primitive world made of traditional cultures and pristine rivers and lands is inevitably stricken by the rising forces of the market economy. When the Qinghai-Tibet Railway line opened in July 2006, most of the public opinion was hailing the accomplishment of the new railway line as a crucial step for the development of Tibet, while environmental ctivists were grieving “the lost of the last virgin land”. When the gigantic Three Gorges dam in Hubei was inaugurated in the spring of the same year, there were environmental Chinese and nternational NGO to balance the governmental enthusiasm with the environmental and social costs of the technological achievement. The Three Parallel Rivers in Yunnan province, a combination of Nu Jiang(Salween River), Lancang Jiang (Mekong River) and Jinsha Jiang(upriver of Yangtzi), is arguably the region with the richest biodiversity on earth, home of many distinctive ethnic minorities, and is listed World Heritage by UNESCO. The ongoing overnmental project of building a series of dams on the Nu Jiang river, issued in 2003, has made us wonder about the future of the area. Is it not time to record the life in Nu Jiang before corporatev interests engulf the pristine valley and change the geographic and demographic map of the region for ever, as it occurred previously in Hubei, in Qinghai, in Tibet ? If the dams have to be erected, whichc onsequences will affect the ecological and environmental patrimony of the valley? And what will happen to the 50000 displaced people, originally ethnic communities, forced to abandon the nourishing motherland of their ancestors?
We write and photograph in hope of gaining more concern and attention for the Nu Jiang issue, as we believe the protection of the world’s patrimony Nu Jiang valley is pivotal in the debate around the questions of development and environment in China.
The authors


1- a pristine river
Nu Jiang is an international river that originates on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Tanggula (Dangla) Range, meanders through Yunnan province, Burma and Thailand, to its Delta at the Andaman Sea in Burma. The China’s portion str (altitude of over 5000metres) and Bilo mountain (an altit ude of over 4000metres). The valley flows over 1000KM, which is twice longer than the Grand Canyon in Colorado. The river and its valley forms part of the Three Parallel Rivers World Heritage Site, which is believed to support over 25% of the world’s and 50% of China’s animal species. a gene pool of biodiversity for the globe. As one of the only two undammed and free-flow rivers in China, Nujiang contains 99 swift rapids and 77 dangerous shoals. The upper reaches of the valley also hosts the famous “Ancient Tea Horse Caravan Road”, in existence for around 2,000 years, a dangerous route taken by horse caravans carrying tea, food, salt and other goods from Yunnan to Tibet.


(The bend of Bingzhongluo, north Nu Jiang)


2- an ethnical patchwork
Over 90% percents of the inhabitants in Nujiang basin come from ethnic minority (the national Han majority counting only for 10%), with distinctive lifestyles of different languages, cuisines, costumes and festivals. A total of 13 minorities live in the Three Parallels Rivers area. In Nu Jiang valley, Lisu, Tibetan, Dai, Nu, and Drung are for the most.
2-1 Lisu minority
The Nu Jiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture rules the area. Distributed over a considerable extent with the largest population among the minorities, they mostly settle in the Gaoligong Range and Hengduan Range of the middle reaches, from Gongshan County to Liuku Prefecture. Agriculture and hunting play a major role in their subsistence economy. They are part of the Sino-Tibetan Tibeto-Burman ethno linguistic group.
(Lisu ethnic minority woman, home, Gongshan, north Nu Jiang)


(Lisu boy, Gongshan, north Nu Jiang)
2-2 Tibetan
Mostly lived in the upper reach, at the border of northern Yunnan
and Tibet. They nearly share the same lifestyle, language and costumes than their fellow inhabitants of the Tibetan plateau. But since they live among other minorities in the same area, it is not uncommon for them to speak Lisu or Nu dialects. originally Lamaist (Tibetan Buddhists), Tibetan dwellers of the Nu Jiang valley turn to be catholic or protestant. Tibetan New Year and horse racing festivals are held every year and play as a major component of their community life.
(Tibetan woman, Qiunatong, Gongshan, north Nu Jiang)


(Tibetan, Chawalong, Tibet, north Nu Jiang)

(Tibetan woman, Chawalong, Tibet, north Nu Jiang)
(Horse race festival, Tibet, Chawalong, north Nu Jiang)


2-3 Dai minority
Concentrated in south of Yunnan, lower reach of Nu Jiang and Lancang Jiang (Mekong River), near the Burma border, thus their lifestyle is similar to Burmese and Thai people. The Water Splashing Festival held around mid-April every year is internationally famous. They are mostly Hinayana Buddhists and part of the Sino-Tibetan Thai ethno linguistic group.
(Dai ethnic minority women, Lujiang, south Nu Jiang)
2-4 Nu minority
Scattered in the upper and middle reaches of the valley. They gave the river its name. The spoken language of the Nu people, consisting of three dialects, belongs to the Tibetan-Burmese group of the Chinese-Tibetan language family. These dialects differ from each other so greatly that people from different dialect areas can hardly communicate. As a result of frequent contact with the Han and Lisu, most Nu people can speak the Chinese and Lisu languages. Some follow Lama Buddhism, while others are Christian worshippers.
2-5 Drung(or Dulong) minority
Numbered only 6000 in Yunnan, most of them living along the Dulong River high up west of the Nu Jiang River. The Drung are unique among the other nationalities in that the women bear traditional facial tattoos, with designs according to their clans. However younger women nowadays have abandoned the tradition.


3- Nu Jiang valley, a melting pot of religions
3-1 Buddhism
Buddhism was introduced to China around the first century A.D. Since the fourth century A.D, it has widely spread and gradually became the most influential religion in China. Buddhism in China is divided into three branches according to varied language families, namely, Chinese Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism and Hinayana Buddhism. Of the 3 branches, 2 can be found in Nu Jiang:
3-1-1 Tibetan Buddhism (or Lamaism)
A form of Buddhism intermingled with indigenous Tibetan religion known as Bon, is widespread in Tibet. Through a prolonged period of cultural exchanges, Tibetan Buddhism has spread to other ethnic groups and other provinces in China. Upstream from Bingzhongluo, signs of Tibetan Buddhism culture such as temples begin to appear along the road.
(Young Buddhist nun, Chawalong Tibet, north Nu Jiang)
(Lama Buddhism temple, Chawalong Tibet, north Nu Jiang)


3-1-2 Hinayana Buddhism (or South-east Asia Buddhism)
Hinayana Buddhism was introduced from Burma, about the 9th century A.D into regions inhabited by the Dai Nation in Xishuanbanna and Dehong, south of Yunnan. It has also influenced the lower part of Nu Jiang River where members of the Dai minority live.
(Hinayana Buddhism temple, Luxi, south Nu Jiang)
(Hinayana Buddhist monk. Luxi, south Nu Jiang)


3-2 Catholicism
Catholicism was first introduced to China in the seventh century. Roman Catholicism was brought to Yunnan during the period of the late Ming and the early Qing dynasties (17th century). Catholic parishes were set up in Yunnan at the end of the 17th century and widely spread across the province after the Opium War in 1840. In Nu Jiang, Catholicism is due to the proselytism of the French missionaries who came up north from Vietnam.
(Easter Festival celebration, Bingzhongluo, north Nu Jiang. The church here is a replica of the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris. Burnt by the Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution, it has been re-build by worshippers.)
(Catholic followers from the Tibetan ethnic minority, after the Easter Festival mass, Bingzhongluo, north Nu Jiang)


3-3 Protestantism
Protestantism was first introduced to Yunnan in 1877 by the British
missionary John M’Carthy from Shanghai. Missionaries from Canada and Australia followed later and preached their religion to the minorities of the region. As well as their catholic counterparts, they were pursued and sent back home by the Communist Party in the early 50’s.
(Protestant follower, Gongshan, north Nu Jiang)
3-4 primitive religions
The primitive religions in Nu Jiang pre-exist to the aforementioned. Varying in their forms, they include nature worship, animal and plant worship, totem worship, ghost and spirit worship, ancestor worship, and sexuality worship. As the fundamental form of primitive worship, Lisu, Nu and Drung ethnic groups worship of nature broaden to heaven, earth, sun, moon, fire, mountain, water, gigantic stones and big trees.


3-5 religious syncretism
In Nu Jiang, Buddhism, Catholicism and Protestantism are the monopole of no minority. Though these religions share the same environment, there seems not to be a distinct boundary between them, as sometimes all villagers, whether Catholics, Protestants or Buddhists, celebrate harmoniously the religious festivals. Moreover, Protestantism and Catholicism have practically evolves to local forms of cult. As the cult of Jesus remains, the rituals might change from a village to another, and sometimes intermingle with primitive religions.
(Religious diversity is also to be found within the family. A'Jiang, from Nu minority, is catholic, while his father and aunt are protestant. Bingzhongluo, north Nu Jiang.)


4 ecology and environment
4-1 ecology
4-1-1 agriculture resources
Downstream of Liuku Area Prefecture in the lower reaches of the river, the fertile soil is suitable for agriculture. Local populations benefit on nutrients carried down by the river to sustain vegetable gardens in the dry season and fertilize large areas of low-lying farmland. Tobacco, bananas, endemic wild rice species and sugar cane grow in a humid climate.
(Sugar cane harvest, Mangkuan, south Nu Jiang)
(Tobacco plant, Longling County, south Nu Jiang)


(Though the soil is more fertile than in the upper reaches of the river, its cultivation in the lower reaches is a daily preoccupation.)


4-1-2 impact of agriculture
Extensive deforestation due to the demand for farmland has plagued the area. Farmers usually have to plough a tiny piece of field on a steep slope, and unrelentingly move with their family to higher remote areas in search of additional land. The demographic pressure on the arable land and the associated risks on the environment have push the local government to enforce the policy “convert farmland to forestry” and its corollary “aiding and settling of the poor program” consisting in displacing the farmers of the area to flatter and more fertile lands. But elsewhere the arable land is scarce as well, and the perspective of the dam construction would worsen the situation by likely resettling the farmers in the surroundings of the World Heritage protected areas.
(Clearing the land for agriculture leads to deforestation and soil erosion.)


Upstream of Liuku in the middle reaches of the river, where high and steep mountains plunge into canyons, the situation contrasts greatly. Poor soil resources force the hill tribes to lead an agriculture of subsistence. In this context, hunting, fishing, and the collect of wild mushrooms in the remote forest, hazardous activities of immemorial times, become a vital source of complementary incomes.
(Ploughing on a steep slope, Luobenzhuo, north Nu Jiang)
( In the upper reaches of Nujiang, where arable land is a scarce resource, locations favorable to agriculture are immediately colonize by new settlers. Fugong, Nu Jiang.)


(Stubble-burning agriculture is common in Nu Jiang, and leads to soil impoverishment and erosion)


4-1-3 transportation infrastructure
The middle and upper reaches of the Nu Jiang count among the most impoverished areas in Yunnan. Due to the lack of transportation infrastructure, hill tribe farmers can hardly find a market to their agricultural and cattle production. There is only one two-lane rural road connecting Bingzhongluo, Gongshan county, to Liuku Area Prefecture city. The precarious one-lane road between Bingzhongluo and Chawalong, Chayu County in Tibet, is only available to vehicles for two years ago. Since the economic structure is rather simple and resources are scarce, the economic development of the northern Nujiang basin is quasi non-existent.


4-2 environment
4-2-1 timber trade
As china is the major manufacturer of goods and furniture on the global market, the demand for wood is increasing rapidly. But decades of deforestation have left the northern mountains of the valley barren, and because of the Reforestation Policy, wood traders turn now to Burma and its ancient rainforest, less than 50 kilometers westward, where timber resource is abundant. Traders usually live at the Sino-Burmese borderline, long of 2000 kilometers, in villages entirely dedicated to the wood industry. The frontier trade with Burma is profitable to the Chinese investors, who also take part in the mining industry.



4-2-2 fauna and flora
Nujiang forests and wetlands host over 6,000 plant species and 80 rare or endangered animal species. UNESCO said the region "may be the most biologically diverse temperate ecosystem in the world" and designated it a World Heritage Site in the summer of 2003. Local government is also using it as a trump card to gain tourists. However, the dam development on tributaries and deforestation along the river banks has already created a significant impact on the fragile ecology of the valley.
4-2-3 soil erosion
In the upper and middle reaches of the river, the increasing demand for fine timber wood, for fuelwood, and the slash-and-burn agriculture have destroyed the forest (have left the forest battered). Slashand-burn agriculture is common along the Nu Jiang River, causing soil impoverishment and landslides, and threatens any sustainable development of the area. As a result, the river has to bear increasing sedimentation (siltation). Agriculture, disturbance of slopes from construction (a dozen of small hydropower stations are operating on the tributaries of the river) and natural landslides and rock slides create fine soil particules depositing and accumulating on the bottom of the river, leading to destruction of aquatic habitat as well as changing the normal pattern of the flow, with risk of floods.
4-2-4 pollution
Modern industry is yet to influence the valley. However, invironmental education remains to develop. In most of the visited villages, locals used to dispose garbage into the Nujiang River without concern.
This unique and fragile ecosystem and all the communities that depend on the river for their survival is at risk, due to endemic issues. With the perspective of the dams construction, it is however a tragedy of a different nature that is likely to appear.
(Household trash is commonly dumped into the Nu Jiang River)



5 hydropower development
To meet its growing demand for electricity, China intends to triple its
hydropower capacity by 2020 through harnessing much of the hydropower potential of the western provinces from great rivers such as the Nu (Salween), Lancang (Mekong) and Jinsha (western headwater of the Yangtze). Known as the Western Region Development Strategy, the purpose is to produce electricity in the western provinces to transfer it to the eastern provinces.
Lead by the almighty Beijing-based Huadian corporation, a state-private consortium, the Nu Jiang dam project issued in 2003 is expected to be the world’s biggest cascade dam system, and would produce more electricity than the gigantic Three Gorges dam in Hubei Province. The building of dams on the Nu Jiang river would affect the ecology, the environment and the ethnic entities of the valley. Villages and towns would be flooded, people would be displaced. This perspective pushed the Chinese environmental non governmental organizations to actively mobilize and seek for public hearings, underlining that the dam project was lacking transparency and calling for public hearings and local people participation in the decision making. Thanks to the freshly empowered governmental environmental agency, which helped to give media coverage to the issue, the defenders of environment welcomed Prime minister Wen Jiabao announcement in late 2004 specifying that the project was suspended due to a lack of comprehensive environmental reviews.
However, recent tunneling and boring on the slopes of the mountains show evidence that hydro -development exploratory activities along the Nu Jiang River still carry on.
('exploit the hydro-power in Nu Jiang brings fortune to people'. Propaganda from local government and developers is frequently to be seen in the valley. Gudeng, middle reaches of Nu Jiang.)


(Tunnel due to hydro-development geological survey)
(Hydro-development exploration has already impact the landscapes)


Developers, provincial and local governments are now expected to counter attack with a revised version of the project that would focus on the Songta, Maji, Gudeng, Liuku, and Saige construction sites. We have conducted interviews on local dwellers from Songta, Chayu County in Tibet, and Xiaoshaba, Liuku in Yunnan, only to find a majority of them do not welcome the project. Few believe in the official version stating the dam construction would benefit the area and bring new incomes to the population. However the local government has already command the displacement of communities. In Xiaoshaba village near Liuku Prefecture, three families were still holding ground in their ruined village, refusing to follow their fellow villagers who have been relocated to a nearby housing complex.
(The demolished village of Xiaoshaba near Liuku)
(A few inhabitants of Xiaoshaba village have refused to be displaced)


The tourism prospect
Apart from the agriculture and hydro-power industry, tourism is being the major tertiary occupation in the Nujiang basin. The Great oriental Valley on the upper stream, the ethnical life and the tropical fauna and flora are the major hotspots. The Nu Jiang valley is known as an area of outstanding scenic value. The free-flowing river and deep river canyons are an essential feature of its scenic beauty. The construction of the dams would destroy the views of the river canyons, thereby affecting the area’s scenic value and its tourism potential. However the tourism market in Nu Jiang is still in its embryonic stages. Neighboring places like Kunming, Lijiang and Xishuangbanna have proved the green tourism economy, though risky for the preservation of traditional entities, could be a viable way of local development. Conscious of this lying idle market, the Nu Jiang authorities would somehow shoot themselves in the foot if the dam construction project has to concretize. The question is now: Can tourism market as part of the sustainable development program of the valley challenge the enormous interests of the hydro-power energy lobby?
(Foreign and modern culture penetrates deep into the Nu Jiang valley. Like anywhere else, signs of globalization have gradually conquered the local populations. Manglong, middle reaches of Nu Jiang.)


Which poison for the Nu Jiang people ?
In this economic dispute, the local communities have probably little to nothing to earn, not to mention they might lose everything. On one hand, if the dam project has to abort, which is unlikely to happen, some would welcome the benefits of the tourism development, but the community in general would have to suffer the already underway consequences of alien culture penetration and
the side effects of globalization on their traditional livelihoods. On the other hand, if the dams have to be built, then their clan civilization would brutally fossilize in the concrete of the deadly dam. The Nu Jiang River and its people are presently facing colossal threats. Before their age-long lifestyles ends up in the museum, we feel the emergency to record the life of their valley.
Entrapped between two logics of development, what will tomorrow bring to the Nu Jiang ethnic minorities ?
    
Authors: Vincent Van Loyn + Houri Wong

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