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Poster for Up the Yangtze

Up the Yangtze

2007 · 1h 33m · Not Rated Documentary
Directed by Yung Chang

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Overview

A luxury cruise boat motors up the Yangtze - navigating the mythic waterway known in China simply as "The River." The Yangtze is about to be transformed by the biggest hydroelectric dam in history. At the river's edge - a young woman says goodbye to her family as the floodwaters rise towards their small homestead. The Three Gorges Dam - contested symbol of the Chinese economic miracle - provides the epic backdrop for Up the Yangtze, a dramatic feature documentary on life inside modern China.

Director and cast

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes

Top critics, in their words

All reviews
96%
Tomatometer
Fresh

The movie never editorializes; it simply presents. It is tragedy, not statistics.

Richard Nilsen, Arizona Republic
Fresh

Myth and reality, past and present, tradition and progress go head to head in Yung Chang's remarkable documentary about China's longest river, Up the Yangtze.

Tirdad Derakhshani, Philadelphia Inquirer
Fresh

The tone is finally one of wistful resignation.

John Hartl, Seattle Times
Fresh

There's plenty for the director to focus on. Examining the dam's environmental impact alone would take another whole movie. Instead, [director] Yung trains his lens mainly on the cultural impact.

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post
Fresh

Visually stunning, this documentary by Chinese-Canadian filmmaker Yung Chang is part travelogue, part social critique of China's economic miracle and the sweeping cultural changes it is forcing in its wake.

Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader

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