Chang, the Messenger.

Up the Yangtze, a deeply moving documentary by Yung Chang about the Three Gorges Dam in China, opens with a stimulating quote from Confucius:
"By three methods we may learn wisdom: first, by reflection which is noblest; second, by imitation which is easiest; and third, by experience which is bitterest."
This immediately caught my attention, making me dive into the story with an even more analytical eye asking the simple question; what makes this quote significant to the film?

"By three methods we may learn wisdom..."
This easily proved not so simple, it became evident that the documentary was a lot more complex then I had first imagined. I found myself having to break apart this 'simple' question and let it mold itself. This quote soon delivered a deeper message involving a Chang-Audience relationship, Chen Bo Yu (Jerry), Yu Shui (Cindy) and each of their Realities.

"First, by reflection which is noblest..."
One of the first things I noticed about the film involved Chang himself. We hear his voice, we hear his story, we hear his motivation for making the film, but we never see him. He establishes himself as the 'man behind the curtain' and makes it pretty clear he intends to stay that way. His narration itself almost says that the story is not about him at all, that he is just there to speak in the empty spaces between those that are filled with his subjects and their lives. The questions he poses, the descriptions he applies, and the explanations he provides are all set before the audience for a specific purpose. As a messenger of the story, Chang is asking us to reflect upon what we are learning. It is our duty to dispel our misconceptions and see the Reality of the people being displaced and affected by the Three Gorges Dam. By speaking, faceless, to us, it makes us focus on the situation and story rather then him. He forces us to open our own eyes and start drawing our own conclusions. In this reflection, we gain the wisdom to thoroughly begin to understand the film and it's subjects, namely Chen Bo Yu and Yu Shui.

"Second, by imitation which is easiest..."
Chen Bo Yu is an only child from a middle-class background and its immediately evident that he's a little spoiled and cocky. He was hired onto the cruise boat because he was tall, speaks good English, and was handsome. His Reality is fitting the mold in a luxury tourist industry. Excited to throw himself into Western Culture and 'modernity' he embraces his role on deck. Even though his family too will be displaced by the dam, he tries to forget that Reality and look to what he thinks will be the future of China. Old Maoist China does not really exist to him, and much of the development of 'New' China is where he is. He imitates his modernized surroundings, gaining wisdom as a more contemporary setting emerges... being the person he is, its definitely easier reacting and learning in this way.

"Third, by experience which is the bitterest..."
By far Yu Shui's Reality is the hardest to watch and endure. Her family lives on the very banks of the Yangtze in extreme poverty and her story becomes the center of the film. With siblings, something not unusual to peasant families, her parents are in extreme debt thanks to a hospital bill and school fees. Yu Shui's dream is to go to High School and then on to a University in furthering her education, however her family's distressing situation dashes those dreams to pulp. In an emotional scene, the audience sees the mother crying and apologizing for having to exploit her own daughter to go make money for the family instead of going to school... something much of Western Culture takes for granted. They send her off to work below deck on the cruise ship and its a shock to her system. She has a break down in the kitchen when she grasps that this is now her Reality; washing dishes to survive. For Yu Shui, she had to learn by experience, she was not given a choice, its a hard and bitter Reality and one she must cope with in order to move up, however she (probably more then Chen Bo Yu) will accumulate solid and stable wisdom about the world around her and will grow from it.

Chang is the Messenger for Yu Shui and Chen Bo Yo's stories. He is the Messenger for the Reality of the Three Gorges Dam. He is the Messenger asking us to question the ethics presented in this documentary about the lives both above and below deck. Both Yu Shui and Chen Bo Yo's families will be displaced by the flooding of the Yangtze, and he has shown how both sides must cope in order to survive. Through the quote in the beginning he shows that we must reflect, imitate, and experience to really learn and gain the wisdom to endure whatever Reality comes our way. In the end Yung Chang's faceless narration forces us to create our own conclusions, to think about what we have seen, discovered, and learned... So here is mine:

"He who learns but does not think is lost. He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger."
-Confucius