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Where the Dragon Meets the Angry River: Nature and Power in the People's Republic of China
China’s meteoric rise to economic powerhouse might be charted with dams. Every river in the country has been tapped to power exploding cities and factories—every river but one. Running through one of the richest natural areas in the world, the Nujiang’s raging waters were on the verge of being dammed when a 2004 government moratorium halted construction. Might the Chinese dragon bow to the "Angry River"? Would Beijing put local people and their land ahead of power and profit? Could this remote region actually become a model for sustainable growth?
Ed Grumbine traveled to the far corners of China’s Yunnan province to find out. He was driven by a single could this last fragment of wild nature withstand China’s unrelenting development? But as he hiked through deep-cut emerald mountains, backcountry villages, and burgeoning tourist towns, talking with trekking guides, schoolchildren, and rural farmers, he discovered that the problem wasn’t as simple as growth versus conservation.
In its struggle to "build a well-off society in an all-round way," Beijing juggles a host of competing health care for impoverished villagers; habitat for threatened tigers; cars for a growing middle class; clean air for all citizens; energy to power new cities; rubber for the global marketplace.
Where the Dragon Meets the Angry River is an incisive look at the possible fates of China and the planet. Will the Angry River continue to flow? Will Tibetan girls from subsistence farming families learn to read and write? Can China and the United States come together to lead action on climate change? Far-reaching in its history and scope, this unique book shows us the real-world consequences of conservation and development decisions now being made in Beijing and beyond.
Ed Grumbine traveled to the far corners of China’s Yunnan province to find out. He was driven by a single could this last fragment of wild nature withstand China’s unrelenting development? But as he hiked through deep-cut emerald mountains, backcountry villages, and burgeoning tourist towns, talking with trekking guides, schoolchildren, and rural farmers, he discovered that the problem wasn’t as simple as growth versus conservation.
In its struggle to "build a well-off society in an all-round way," Beijing juggles a host of competing health care for impoverished villagers; habitat for threatened tigers; cars for a growing middle class; clean air for all citizens; energy to power new cities; rubber for the global marketplace.
Where the Dragon Meets the Angry River is an incisive look at the possible fates of China and the planet. Will the Angry River continue to flow? Will Tibetan girls from subsistence farming families learn to read and write? Can China and the United States come together to lead action on climate change? Far-reaching in its history and scope, this unique book shows us the real-world consequences of conservation and development decisions now being made in Beijing and beyond.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published April 8, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 16, 2019
Not much content, too much of a 'travelogue' - it feels like a story of an American in China, than environmental history, which is what I was looking for. Chapters had titles that gave little hint what they are about, one chapter is the 'rubber is bad' chapter, another is 'hydrodams' etc... All of the contexts are American.
For me this book was a failure.
Naturally, it is already obsolete, as PRC is changing so quickly,
but I felt it didn't do a good job of painting a picture of the time it knew.
This is really for people who don't know China / Chinese history, its a first book (It also seems to assume the reader knows little about America too, and zero about the rest of the world)
It references a "european common power market" - something that does not exist
It includes lots of chitchat with random Chinese people he was interacting with. Little bit critical of China, strong anti-development bias, basically, he gives a widely unbalanced viewpoint, myopic, one that nakedly shows one side, and never tries to give a balanced overview. Rather than function as an effective environmental overview or rallying cry, instead he discredits his viewpoint and makes his assertions suspect.
There are no references, which makes some of the info suspect. Lots of anecdotal perspectives and unsupported generalizations. There is a bunch of times where he asserts but the reality is much different than the figures, much worse, "the real figure may be much higher" was mentioned in a news article, so his belief is that's always the fact. Its just too much supposition and too little work.
For me this book was a failure.
Naturally, it is already obsolete, as PRC is changing so quickly,
but I felt it didn't do a good job of painting a picture of the time it knew.
This is really for people who don't know China / Chinese history, its a first book (It also seems to assume the reader knows little about America too, and zero about the rest of the world)
It references a "european common power market" - something that does not exist
It includes lots of chitchat with random Chinese people he was interacting with. Little bit critical of China, strong anti-development bias, basically, he gives a widely unbalanced viewpoint, myopic, one that nakedly shows one side, and never tries to give a balanced overview. Rather than function as an effective environmental overview or rallying cry, instead he discredits his viewpoint and makes his assertions suspect.
There are no references, which makes some of the info suspect. Lots of anecdotal perspectives and unsupported generalizations. There is a bunch of times where he asserts but the reality is much different than the figures, much worse, "the real figure may be much higher" was mentioned in a news article, so his belief is that's always the fact. Its just too much supposition and too little work.
May 7, 2014
This book offers interesting insight into environmental challenges in China. The author has some unique first person experience working in China, which presents a believable perspective.
However, I found myself ultimately unfulfilled. There were a lot of words and emotion conveyed, but not as much useful information as I'd hoped to find. The title is Where the Dragon Meets the Angry River, but I learned more about the management and development of rivers in China from a small section of one chapter of a book titled Where Rivers Run Dry than I did in the whole of this book.
This is an good read as a very light introduction to the topic.
However, I found myself ultimately unfulfilled. There were a lot of words and emotion conveyed, but not as much useful information as I'd hoped to find. The title is Where the Dragon Meets the Angry River, but I learned more about the management and development of rivers in China from a small section of one chapter of a book titled Where Rivers Run Dry than I did in the whole of this book.
This is an good read as a very light introduction to the topic.
May 28, 2013
This is a thoughtful and informative yet easy-reading primer on the key issues China faces in efforts at biodiversity conservation and rural development, written by one of the foremost scholars on conservation in China's southwest. Grumbine peppers revealing summaries of the policy and science with insights from personal interactions with policymakers, activists, scholars, and rural residents. A must-read for anyone concerned with China's environmental challenges.
December 2, 2011
Well researched, included valuable insight on areas that I find interesting. I think it would have been more interesting as a non e book, due to graphs, notes, and photos he included... that was my only real complaint, that and I would have liked it to be longer...
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews