Near & Far Goes to China

"Up the Yangtze" movie

There is a very interesting movie that is playing at the Tivoli in Westport through July 31st.

In many ways, it is hard to watch. It follows the life of a teenager and her family who are very poor farmers and are displaced by the flooding of the river. The teenager gets a job on one of the big river boats and we get quite an inside look at the lives of the workers on these ships.

The ship that is featured is one of the Victoria line and is not like the ship which we will have for our 5 nights on the Yangtze. Ours is the Regal China Cruise line. There are no cheezy piano sing-a-longs or ballroom dancing. There is a nice quiet lounge and library at the front of the ship. Onboard edu-tainment consists of "classes" on oriental medicine, massage, tai chi, carving, etc..

The movie does show some of the beautiful scenery that we will see and also gives a glimpse as to the magnitude and scope of the Three Gorges Dam project and the resulting upheaval.

If you would like to help the family that is featured in the film, there is a special website set up for it:
http://www.givemeaning.com/project/yufam. Here you can also read updates about the family.

Here is a trailer for the film...