Word: yunnan
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...uncertainty is widely shared. The Nu - its name means "angry" - flows through one of China?s most remote corners, down from the Tibetan highlands through western Yunnan province, a few miles from Burma. It is one of China's last two rivers to not be blocked by dams - the other is Tibet's Yaluzangbu - and environmentalists want to keep it that way. But China is hungry for energy, and with the country choking on its addiction to highly polluting coal, Beijing has mandated that more power should come from renewable sources. The fast-flowing Nu offers vast potential for hydropower...
...both sides. One consistent condition made by negotiators for the Dalai Lama's Dharamsala-based government in exile, for example, has been that the new autonomous region would include so-called "greater" Tibet, that is, all the traditionally ethnic-Tibetan areas now parts of the provinces of Sichuan, Yunnan, Gansu and Qinghai. In total, that would compromise around a quarter of China's current territory. No government in Beijing could ever contemplate such a giveaway, which would almost certainly unleash a nationalist backlash of frightening proportions...
...with China's energy needs soaring even in underdeveloped provinces like Yunnan, the Mekong is potent enough to be exploited for electricity. Some of that power, ironically, will be exported to countries like Thailand, where hydroelectric projects are controversial and have been blocked by ecologically minded citizens. Huaneng doesn't have to worry about public interference. The state-owned company is run by the well-connected son of China's former Premier, Li Peng. And with no shareholders calling for environmental-impact surveys or feasibility studies, Huaneng rarely makes public details of its plans until just months before it breaks...
...That sense of helplessness extends to many in Yunnan as well. The Xiaowan project has forced 35,000 people from their homes, often with minimal compensation. Wang Zhengjun was uprooted in 2004 from his farmland on the banks of the Mekong with only six months' notice. Although he was provided a new house by Huaneng, the 42-year-old says it's much smaller than his old one - and it doesn't come with the fertile soil that supported his family for generations. Villagers were told the dam would be a financial boon to local residents. But Wang and others...
...been quietly changing the facts on the ground. More and more of Burma's economy is being linked north and east, with new roads, bridges and railways, and now plans for a multibillion-dollar oil pipeline extending from the Bay of Bengal across the Irrawaddy Valley to China's Yunnan Province and beyond. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese have already settled in Burma in recent years and more will likely follow...