6th-7th May 2011 Trial Point 3 Nothing is innocent
GPS 28.59”929’N 105.49”890’E Altitude：668ft
After lunch we set off to Point 3. The next 100 kilometers took us four hours to cover: from concrete motorway to muddy tracks. After asking directions for no less than 20 times, with the help of two mobile GPS and two maps, we finally arrived- this time at place without any factories or big buildings. Standing next to the river, I felt the closest to it since the project started, there’s no other sound apart from the river. I haven’t experienced this quietness for years in China.
The sand was very fine. The bed cost £1 per person per night.
In the morning I woke up in the songs of birds and small noise of the tiny port. However, the next 20 minutes changed my view about this place. Our host came up and started talking to me. As he went on my heart sank deeper and deeper. This stretch of the river has deep water and no reef; it has been rented to him from the government. It’ll be developed into a beautiful port and he’ll make a lot of money from it. Apart from this, the sand, stones, his shop and the basic port he built over the last 10 years will all create big fortunes for him when the time comes. He told me that ‘if you live next to the mountain, you ‘eat’ the mountain; if you live next to the river, you ‘eat’ the river’. Now I can see how literal this is. The duck we had last night was hunted next to the river; all his income comes from some aspects of the river; and his future, his sons’ and grandsons’ futures all lie on the river.
This says to me again: in China now, nature is shown no mercy. No mercy at all. Nothing is innocent, everything is valued only by their economic potential. If this is the known result of my ‘point system’, then I’m not sure if I want to continue.
