Editor's note: GoKunming is publishing photos from the collection of Auguste François (1857-1935), who served as French consul in south China between 1896 and 1904, during which he spent several years in Kunming. The photos have been provided by Kunming resident and private collector Yin Xiaojun (殷晓俊). GoKunming thanks Yin Xiaojun for providing us a glimpse of Yunnan at the beginning of the 20th Century.

Year: 1900
Subject: Refugees from Sichuan
Location: Unknown location in Kunming

Background:

In general, life in southwest China is much less arduous than it was a century ago, but natural disasters can still strike with little notice - as this year has demonstrated to catastrophic effect. This year southwest China has experienced a massive winter storm, a catastrophic earthquake near Wenchuan in Sichuan, and the more recent tremor that destroyed or damaged hundreds of thousands of homes in Sichuan and Yunnan.

More than a hundred years ago, Auguste François bore witness to the tragedy of the flooding of Luzhou in Sichuan. The people in the photo above are refugees from the flooding of the Jinsha River, which eventually becomes the Yangtze River.

That these refugees even made it to Yunnan is little short of a miracle. These seven extremely poor people had barely enough clothing to cover themselves, and included two elderly and one child in their ranks.

Moreover, some of the refugees are missing toes, likely due to leprosy (麻风病), and the child's belly is bloated from undernourishment. The sad scene is an unforgettable illustration of the Chinese phrase yi bu bi ti (衣不蔽体) or "not enough clothing to cover oneself".

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Tags: Auguste François, disasters, Jinsha River, Luzhou, Sichuan, Wenchuan earthquake, Yin Xiaojun

UK newspaper The Guardian is reporting that the controversial plan to dam Yunnan's Tiger Leaping Gorge (虎跳峡) has been scrapped.

The sparing of the gorge and its 100,000 inhabitants – who would have been forced to relocate to much less hospitable terrain – may be the biggest win to date for mainland environmentalists. The victory may only be a pyrrhic one, as other portions of the Yangtze River's upper reaches, known in Yunnan as the Jinsha River (金沙江) are under consideration for hydropower projects.

Tiger Leaping Gorge is where a roughly 15-kilometer stretch of the Jinsha runs between 5,596-meter Yulong Snow Mountain (玉龙雪山) and 5,396-meter Haba Snow Mountain (哈巴雪山). The gorge features 2,000-meter cliffs leading above intense rapids that are not considered navigable.

The area has traditionally been home to more than 100,000 residents, most of whom are from the Naxi ethnic minority. Since opening to foreign tourists in 1993, the gorge has seen a steady increase in tourist visits, which has led to road improvements and construction of several guesthouses along the 'high road' above the river.

The decision to spare the gorge from being dammed and filled will likely benefit tourism to the area, which is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the Three Parallel Rivers Protected Areas. However it is unlikely to be the end of new hydropower projects, as it is thought that damming the Jinsha could prevent the flow of silt downstream to the Three Gorges Dam.

Silt is considered a threat to the navigability of the Yangtze, which is expected to be able to handle increasing levels of containerized sea-going barge traffic as far west as Chongqing in the coming years.

Some officials are also proponents of using the damming of the Jinsha to flush out the pollution that has accumulated in Kunming's Dianchi Lake, which is one of China's largest and most polluted freshwater lakes. China's second-largest hydropower project at Xiluodu began construction in November of last year.

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Tags: dams, environment, Haba Snow Mountain, Jinsha River, Naxi, Tiger Leaping Gorge, Yangtze River, Yulong Snow Mountain

Last Thursday the flow of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River was blocked in order to build China's second-largest hydropower project, according to local media reports. The damming of the Jinsha River, as the Yangtze is known in Sichuan and Yunnan, will pave the way for construction of the Xiluodu Power Station (溪洛渡电站), which is scheduled for completion by 2015.

The 50 billion yuan (US$6.74 billion) project will have an installed capacity of 12.6 GW, making it the second-largest hydropower station in China after the 18.2 GW Three Gorges Dam. The Xiluodu project is located on the border of Sichuan and Yunnan.

Yangtze River Three Gorges Project Development Corporation, the state-owned company charged with the Xiluodu project, was ordered by China's State Environmental Protection Agency in 2005 to halt work on the dam until it completed and submitted an environmental impact assessment. Now that the river's flow is blocked, the construction phase of the project is set to begin.

Southwest China's numerous rivers are increasingly being harnessed to quench the country's growing thirst for electricity - much to the chagrin of domestic and international groups concerned with the impact of dams upon the environment, archeological sites and residents displaced by such projects. The Jinsha River is also due to have another hydropower station - Xiangjiaba - begin operations in 2015 with an installed capacity of 6 GW.

Image: Xinhua News

Tags: energy, environment, hydropower, Jinsha River, Xiluodu Power Station, Yangtze River