Gallery Three: Three Gorges Migrants Through the Lens of Li Feng
From newlyweds to the end of an enduring partnership, we trace the lives of Three Gorges migrants from 2012-2014 in the third gallery of this series.
We return to the summer of 2012 in the Three Gorges Reservoir area as photographer Li Feng documents the myriad ways the creation of the Three Gorges Dam would reshape the lives of millions.
Three local models prepare for a swimsuit show on a luxury cruise ship near the dock in Yiling District, Yichang City, in June 2012.
On July 3, 2012, with the flood water discharged from the Three Gorges Dam approaching Yichang, Hu Jun fished by the riverside in Dianjun District of Yichang City, about 40 kilometres below the dam. Ten years ago, Hu Jun moved from Zigui County in the reservoir area to Yichang, and brought his fishing net with him. Now Hu Jun works for a company in Yichang City for a much higher income.
On December 15, 2012, in the new county seat of Wushan, migrants carry oranges in backpacks for trading on the new wharf just above the old wharf, which was flooded by the Three Gorges Reservoir. The new wharf became the largest orange trading market in the area.
Zhang Qiuping is seen here carrying newly picked tea leaves, which he is taking to the new tea purchasing station in Yiling District of Yichang City. This photo was taken in April 2013.
Liu Jiangwei, a migrant in the reservoir area, is on duty, taking care of a tourist pier under construction between the Gezhouba Dam and the Three Gorges Dam in the Xiling Gorge on July 15, 2013. Located downstream of the Three Gorges Dam, the Xiling Gorge was mostly unaffected by the construction of the dam. Its original appearance remained well preserved. For this reason, many visitors come here to tour the area every year.
Portraits of the deceased Xiong Zhenghua (male) and Liu Hongying (female) on the wall of their former home by the Yangtze River in Xietan Town of Zigui County. Their entire village fell below the 175-metre line and was moved for relocation. After all of their fellow villagers had moved to higher ground for resettlement, the old couple refused to move and continued to live in their house by the river until they died. This photo was taken on October 12, 2013.
On December 8, 2013, a young couple walk on the new suspension bridge near Xinguilin Village of Zigui County in the reservoir area. Today was their big day. Wang Xi, the bride was a local migrant; her bridegroom was from Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province. Wang Xi met her sweetheart in Shanghai when she worked there as a migrant laborer.
On December 15, 2013, local people gathered for the business of orange trading at the the new wharf in the new county seat of Wushan. It was now the season of orange ripening in the Three Gorges Reservoir area.
At 10 p.m. on January 8, 2014, at Maoping Pier in Yichang City, Wang Tao and his friends crammed into the cramped cabin of a passenger ship. Migrant laborers, they all worked in Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province. The passenger ship would carry them back home to Wuxi County in the reservoir area for the Spring Festival celebration with their families. The journey marked the last one for this passenger ship. It would be replaced by the Three Gorges Expressway, which opened to traffic in June of that year.
At 6 a.m. on August 9, 2014, several migrants from Wuxi County in the Three Gorges Reservoir area released a batch of wild fish into the Daning River, a tributary of the Yangtze River.
Liu Yang, an elderly man, took a look at the roof of his house in November 2014. He had moved from his old home by the river to higher ground in Yangping Town. He managed to turn the roof into a basin to store water for his daily use, due to the lack of water on the slopes of the mountain.
This building for migrants near the new county seat of Wushan had long been completed, but Liu Huimin was still willing to live in a shack by the river. This photograph was taken on December 2, 2014.