Gallery Five: Three Gorges Migrants Through the Lens of Li Feng
The last installment in our monumental series on Three Gorges migrants over the course of 27 years captured by one of China's greatest photographers.
In this series, we see the famous peach tree image - a man carrying a tree on his back from his own yard as he leaves the mountain area he has known all of his life. This image, taken by Li Feng, tugged at the heart of a nation when it appeared on the Internet in the winter of 2019.
A little migrant carrying a summer sleeping mat (June 1995).
In December 1997, migrants from Nanmuyuan Village in Badong County, of the Three Gorges Reservoir area, moved with all of their belongings.
In August 1998, migrants boarded a passenger ship from their hometown to Shanghai, passing the Three Gorges Dam site.
Li Feng, the photographer, and his wife, Hu Yanhong, on a boat to Three Gorges in 1999.
In August 2000, 639 migrants from Yunyang County boarded a passenger ship bound for Shanghai for resettlement on Chongming Island. The red banner behind them reads: “To sacrifice individual interests for the public good, to support the construction of the Three Gorges project for the country.”
On March 25, 2002, the old county town of Zigui, with a history of more than 1,700 years, was demolished with a blast.
On July 20, 2002, a migrant family in Zhongxian County was on the move, and so was their pig.
On August 31, 2002, carrying their one-month-old baby, a migrant couple embarked on their move to Guangdong Province in south China, more than one thousand kilometres away from their homeland. The sign refers to where they are headed: “Three Gorges migrants who move to another province: Ma’an Town, in Huiyang City of Guangdong Province. This is the Third Squadron.” But the couple, and their son, stayed there less than one year and returned to Wushan County in
the Three Gorges Reservoir area next year.
A song from a Chinese television series triggered a chain reaction, bringing many of the more than 800 migrants in two passenger ships bound for Shanghai to tears, including sailors on the ships who were not migrants. The theme song for the TV series, “The Long Song,” includes these lines: “Looking back at your hometown, you are ten thousand miles away, taking with you many deep feelings; The breeze blows over the land under your feet, your loved ones are in your heart …” It’s a coincidence that, just as the barge was leaving, following the transfer of migrants to the passenger ship as they departed from their homeland, the TV theme song played as the barge workers watched on, creating an emotional collective response. This photograph was taken in September 2002.
On June 1, 2003, the Three Gorges Dam officially began storing water during the first phase of impoundment to 135 metres. The migrants pictured, pose alongside a sign that shows the 135M water level.
A bird’s nest flooded by the river (June 1, 2003).
On June 1, 2003, a little girl plays in her family’s yard where they grow oranges. With the post office gone, staff placed a post box on an orange tree by the road to provide a mail service for people. The sign reads: “The Baidicheng Postal Representative Office”.
The biggest flood in 2010 in the Three Gorges Reservoir area since the dam project was built.
Liu Minhua, a migrant from the mountain area of Guojiaba Town, Zigui County in the Three Gorges reservoir area, carefully carries a peach tree that once grew in front of his home, as he says goodbye to his hometown and the place where he was born. This photograph was taken in March 2012.
The newly elected head of the village sings a folk song to those gathered -- all migrants from the Three Gorges Reservoir area. They were resettled at Shayang Farm in Jingmen City of Hubei Province. This photograph was taken in June 2013.
Growing cotton was not an easy job for migrants from the mountains. Fifteen years ago, they left Qingshi Village of Wushan County and were resettled at Huanghu Farm in Jianli County of Hubei Province. This photograph was taken on December 21, 2013.
In December 2014, a man and a woman wait for a night boat to cross the river at the new pier in Wushan. The couple had just received their marriage certificate earlier in the day.
On October 5, 2015, Yi Yuanxiu cooked for tourists at her newly opened inn under the Goddess Peak in Qingshi Town, Wushan County.
Image Nineteen: Qingming – Tomb Sweeping Day. A time when migrants visit the graves of their ancestors and family members to pay their respects. This photograph was taken in 2022.
Continue here to view the other galleries in this series.
About the Photographer – Li Feng
Born in 1973, Li Feng is one of the most famous photographers in China. In 2007, his photograph, “Monkeys Waiting for Experiment,” won the Gold Award in National Geographic’s Global Photography Competition, In 2014, his photo series, “Three Gorges Migrants After 20 Years,” won the Gold Medal in the 3rd National Photography Exhibition of China. He has published several books, such as “Atlas of Wildlife in China’s Three Gorges,” “Images of the Old City” and “Home in the Old City of Yichang”.
His photographic works are rich in subject matter, but the most widely known and highly acclaimed is his continuous focus on Three Gorges migrants. Since 1995, Li Feng has been present to capture almost every historical moment of the Three Gorges Dam’s construction.
Li Feng’s hometown of Yichang is located at the exit of Three Gorges – the boundary between the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and the historical main route in and out of Sichuan. From Yichang’s Xiling Gorge on, Wu Gorge and Qutang Gorge follow, in that order. The Yangtze River, which cuts through these three gorges, is known locally as the Gorge River or the Chuan River.
Li Feng first photographed the Three Gorges’ migration in June 1995. At that time, shortly after graduating from college, Li Feng, a photography enthusiast, took a boat from his hometown of Yichang upstream to Zigui, which is located in the heart of the Three Gorges Reservoir area. At the wharf in Zigui County, he photographed a young boy carrying a cooler.
The 7-year-old boy, Liu Wei, is from Xiangjiadian village in Zigui County. Xiangjiadian Village is the closest village to the Three Gorges Dam, and therefore became the earliest village in the Three Gorges Reservoir area to undergo relocation. In the afternoon of that day, Liu Wei moved on to the outskirts of Yichang by boat along with 184 migrants from the same village. “The Three Gorges Millions Migration” officially kicked off, and Li Feng happened to witness this moment.
From that day on, Li Feng embarked on a long journey. In the 27 years since then, he has resolutely focused his camera on the Three Gorges and its migrants. “From that incredible photo in 1995, I felt that these people were truly worthy of my record,” he said.
The period from 2000 to 2010 was the busiest and most lively time for the entire Three Gorges. Li Feng headed to the Three Gorges whenever he could. On January 20, 2002, Fengjie County was blasted into oblivion – a thousand-year-old city on the Yangtze River. The blast also marked the beginning of the full-scale demolition and clearing of the Three Gorges Reservoir. Two months later, the old county town of Zigui, with a history of more than 1,700 years, was also demolished and blasted. Li Feng was on the scene.
In 2003, the entire reservoir area officially began filling on June 1. That was a day the whole world turned to watch. On that day, Li Feng found a nest of birds in front of the Three Gorges Dam. It had become flooded after the river rose. Every day, the Yangtze River rose 3 meters or 5 meters, until June 15, when it rose to a height of 135 meters. Many old counties along the river sank to the bottom. All of this was followed by Li Feng through his camera lens.
“People” were always at the center of Li Feng’s focus. In the beginning, he photographed along the 600-kilometers of the Yangtze River in the Three Gorges Reservoir area. Around 2001, he began to follow the footsteps of migrants as they moved out of the Three Gorges in large numbers. He photographed babies just over a month old, migrating with their parents to Guangzhou. He photographed the migrants taking with them pigs, chickens and goats. He also photographed them trying to carry a tree from their hometown in their bags when they left.
According to Li Feng, history is not only related to physical change, but also to the changing emotional structure of the people who occupy that physical space. He continues to go to the Three Gorges to record and search.
“What is a Three Gorges person? How has the emotional intensity of the Three Gorges people changed over the decades? What is the impact of everything that happens in the gorge on people? What is the impact on the first generation migrants, the second generation, and the third generation? What will happen to it in the future? I hope to answer these questions through a lifetime of shooting.” ~ Li Feng, from an interview with China’s People magazine.