River Town

River Town PDF

Author: Peter Hessler

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2010-09-21

Total Pages: 382

ISBN-13: 0062028987

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A New York Times Notable Book Winner of the Kiriyama Book Prize In the heart of China's Sichuan province, amid the terraced hills of the Yangtze River valley, lies the remote town of Fuling. Like many other small cities in this ever-evolving country, Fuling is heading down a new path of change and growth, which came into remarkably sharp focus when Peter Hessler arrived as a Peace Corps volunteer, marking the first time in more than half a century that the city had an American resident. Hessler taught English and American literature at the local college, but it was his students who taught him about the complex processes of understanding that take place when one is immersed in a radically different society. Poignant, thoughtful, funny, and enormously compelling, River Town is an unforgettable portrait of a city that is seeking to understand both what it was and what it someday will be.

Yangtze River Gunboats 1900–49

Yangtze River Gunboats 1900–49 PDF

Author: Angus Konstam

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2012-12-20

Total Pages: 50

ISBN-13: 1849084092

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From the end of the 19th century through the first half of the 20th, most Western powers maintained a naval presence in China. These gunboats protected traders and missionaries, safeguarded national interests, and patrolled Chinese rivers in search of pirates. It was a wild, lawless time in China as ruthless warlords fought numerous small wars to increase their power and influence. This book covers the gunboats of all the major nations that stationed naval forces in China, including America, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, and Japan, and looks at such famous incidents as the Japanese bombing of the USS Patay and the dramatic escape of the HMS Amethyst from Communist forces in 1947, which marked the end of the gunboat era.

The River Dragon Has Come!: Three Gorges Dam and the Fate of China's Yangtze River and Its People

The River Dragon Has Come!: Three Gorges Dam and the Fate of China's Yangtze River and Its People PDF

Author: Dai Qing

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-07-01

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13: 1315502763

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In the ongoing courageous struggle of a relatively small group of Chinese to prevent the completion of the Three Gorges Dam in China, Dai Qing is the outspoken leader whose eloquent voice is always heard despite threats and intimidation by the Chinese authorities to silence it. Dai Qing, an investigative journalist and author with a wide audience in China and abroad, compiled this book of essays and field reports assessing the impact of the Three Gorges megadam now under construction at Sandouping in China's Hubei province at great risk to her own freedom. This book is an effort to prevent history from repeating itself ten-fold (a reference to the great floods in 1975 during which over 60 dams collapsed and at least 100,000 people lost their lives) if the 39 billion cubic metres of water in the Three Gorges reservoir ever escapes by natural or man-made catastrophes. These comprehensive essays reveal the deep rooted problems presented by the Three Gorges project that the government is attempting to disguise or suppress. The main concerns are population resettlement and human rights, the irreversible environmental and economic impact, the loss of cultural antiquities and historical sites, military considerations, and hidden dam disasters from the past. Opponents of the dam are attempting to kill the project or at least reduce the size of the megadam now planned to be the biggest, most expensive and, incidentally, the most hazardous of all hydro-electric projects on this planet.

Witness to Extinction

Witness to Extinction PDF

Author: Samuel Turvey

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2009-08-13

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 0191580198

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The tragic recognition of the extinction of the Yangtze River Dolphin or baiji in 2007 became a major news story and sent shockwaves around the world. It made a romantic story, for the baiji was a unique and beautiful creature that features in many Chinese legends and folk tales. The Goddess of the Yangtze, as it was known, was also the lone representative of an entire and ancient branch of the Tree of Life. But perhaps the greater tragedy is that its status as one of the world's most threatened mammals had been widely recognized, yet despite wide publicity virtually no international funds became available. A compelling read by a young naturalist, Samuel Turvey tells the story of the plight of the Yangtze River Dolphin from his unique perspective as a conservation biologist deeply involved in the struggle to save the dolphin. This is both a celebration of a beautiful and remarkable animal that once graced one of China's greatest rivers, its natural history and its role as a cultural symbol; and also a personal, eyewitness account of the failures of policy and the struggle to get funds that led to its tragic demise. It is a true cautionary tale that we must learn from, for there are countless other threatened species that will suffer from the same human mistakes, and whose loss we shall not know until it is too late.

Yangtze River

Yangtze River PDF

Author: Tracy B. Maloney

Publisher: Nova Science Publishers

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781626182851

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The Yangtze River is Asia's longest river and the third longest river in the world. This book explores the Yangtze River's geography, pollution, and environmental implications. Topics discussed include chlorinated organic contaminants in surface sediments of the Yangtze River estuary and adjacent East China Sea; environmental and land-use changes in the Tibetan Plateau section of the Upper Yangtze River Basin during the last fifty years; hydro-development, the environmental and cultural sustainability of the Yangtze River; innovative solutions for the Yangtze River's water crisis; environmental flows research methodology in the rivers of China; and urban development and its impacts on energy and resource consumptions in the Yangtze River Delta.

The River at the Center of the World

The River at the Center of the World PDF

Author: Simon Winchester

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 2004-04

Total Pages: 438

ISBN-13: 9780312423377

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Chronicle of the author's adventures following the often difficult course of the Yangtze River in China, providing a portrait of the vast country, its history, politics, geography, climate, and culture.