CHINA. Xixi Wetlands in Hangzhou. 2010

“Green Hills Soothe My Eyes, Running Water Tranquilizes My Mind,” announced the sign to my left as I entered the Xixi Wetland park in Hangzhou. “Only One Future for Our Children – Development Without Destruction,” proclaimed a second sign just a few meters ahead on my right. “Your Planet Needs You – Unite to Combat Climate Change,” a third sign almost screamed to me as I turned the next bend. If nothing else, these signs were saying all the right things to me and the thousands of visitors streaming through the gates of the Xixi wetland, located in the city of Hangzhou, just a short distance from the megalopolis of Shanghai, on the shores of the East China Sea.

The Xixi wetlands lie in the west of the city as a network of ponds and waterways, making up an area of around 60km2. This is China’s ‘first national wetland park,’ dubbed as such to act as a role model to all other wetlands in China and to supposedly show how to effectively manage and restore wetlands, notably urban wetlands.

CHINA. One of many signs in Xixi Wetlands encouraging visitors to protect the environment. 2010

Up until only 6 years ago however, Xixi was in crisis. “I arrived to find a highly eutrophic water system with algal blooms, solid waste matter and rubbish piled into the water from the many thousands that lived on site,” explained Chris Wood, a British Ecologist, drafted in as part of Japanese ecological consultancy firm whose role it was to advise on the best way to transform Xixi. “The overall water quality was extremely poor, the ecological value and function highly compromised. A fair percentage of the original wetland had already been lost to development or agriculture and the city had suffered flood damage as a direct consequence.”

This situation prompted the local government into action and in 2004 they invested US$700 million dollars into a massive restoration program which saw the wetlands dug up, rearranged and transformed under the guidance as foreign experts, such as Chris Wood. What resulted was China’s new ’showcase wetlands’, which would serve as another tourist hotspot in a city that already welcomed millions of visitors each year.

CHINA. Tourists visiting the Xixi Wetlands in Hangzhou. 2010

“Xixi has a 4500 year history, initially as a large lake, split into two lakes at about 172AD and then becoming re-sculpted into the wetland at around 220AD. Restoration was therefore being conducted with those 1800 years in mind,” continued Chris. “Restoration necessarily had its focus not just upon the ecology but upon the cultural and historical aspects of Xixi as well as those of tourism.”

Today, Xixi welcomes thousands of visitors every day. They stroll, ride bicycles, are shuttled around in electric cars and whisked around the waterways by boat. It’s an idyllic scene. The scene is rocked from time to time however when tourists pick large amounts of vegetation to use as props in photographs and litter is seen floating in some of the waterways. Teams of workers on boats regularly paddled past me with large piles of refuse, in an attempt to clean-up after the hoards passing through the park. At peak times, the park welcomes over 8000 visitors per day, 1500 more than the recommended maximum carrying capacity, according to a recent paper from the Department of Earth Science in Zhejiang University in Hangzhou.

CHINA. A leaf is discarded on a boon after being used by tourists as a prop whilst taking photos. 2010

Another challenge that the park faces is in the form of water pollution. I first noticed this when I stumbled across a pond full of dead fish on my first day. Levels of water pollution have improved as a whole since the restorations began in 2004, however it is still a serious issue and the large bright green algal blooms around the park are a clear sign of problems lurking underwater.

Eutrophication occurs when excessive amounts of nutrients enter the water system causing a dense growth of algae on the surface of the water, which suffocates life below through lack of oxygen. Recent tests in a paper in 2009 issued by the Institute of Crop Science in Hangzhou and the Xixi Wetland Management Company, revealed that the waters in Xixi still suffer from dangerously high levels of Ammonia (NH3-N), normally found in fertilizers, septic system effluent and animal waste. These continuing high levels cause eutrophication in many ponds and are a slight blight on the park which is striving to act as the example that all other urban wetlands should follow.

CHINA. Eutrophication in one of the pools in Xixi. 2010

“The fact that the wetlands are enjoyed and therefore valued is an important aspect that should begin to pervade the culture,” emphasized Chris. “No-one can leave Xixi without appreciating wetlands.” It is this point that stuck with me as I rubbed shoulders with the many other tourists visiting the park this past week. Yes, there is a behavioral problem with many Chinese tourists (enough so that there was an article in the Chinese Journal of Ecology in 2009 titled “Bad Tourists Behaviours and their Environmental Impacts on Xixi National Wetland Park) however perhaps many will take away an educational experience from their visit.

As I turned to leave the park for the last time, a final sign declared, “Upstream Downstream: Wetlands Connect us All.” I could think of no other message that was concise enough to emphasize the importance to all of us of wetlands. Wetlands do indeed connect us all and it is in places such as Xixi that we can only hope to spread the message of the plight of these precious areas to the masses that pass through.

YouTube

I haven’t announced this officially but I now have a YouTube channel! As I have started to produce more video work and multimedia over the past few months, I obviously want to get this work out to as many people as possible and YouTube seems to be the perfect venue as it is possible to upload multimedia content, even without video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I currently have 5 entries on the channel; ‘Inside North Korea Parts 1, 2 and 3′, ‘China’s Growing Sands’ for the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and ‘China’s 60th Anniversary Preparation in Hangzhou’, for the Globe and Mail. By far the most popular video so far has been Part 1 of Inside North Korea which has nearly 1,000 views. A modest amount.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I have embedded a couple of the videos here on this blog entry but please go to the channel here to subscribe and have a look at some of the videos and spread the word to others who you feel may be interested in the work I am doing.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The above video is one that I produced for the Globe and Mail newspaper, along with the Asia Bureau Chief Mark Mackinnon and his assistant Yu Mei, a couple of weeks ago. The video centers on the preparations for the country’s 60th anniversary that passed on October 1st, focusing on the city of Hangzhou which lies to the west of Shanghai.

Yu Hua

One of the highlights of the video process was meeting and filming the author Yu Hua. Originating from Hangzhou, Yu Hua is one of China’s most famous and controversial novelists. In 1992 he released the book ‘To Live’ which was adapted into a movie by the well-known Chinese director Zhang Yimou, starring Gong Li. His feelings (and that of others we interviewed) about the way China has developed over the past 60 years were particularly interesting and refreshing, especially considering the propagandistic view presented constantly here in China recently.

Needless to say, witnessing the change China is going through at the moment is a special experience. Hearing the voices of people who have witnessed this change first-hand over the past 60 years is even more special and constantly eye-opening. I hope you enjoy the video.

Hangzhou. Flags fly in the city. 2009

Today marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Here in Beijing, Tiananmen Square has become awash with parades, both military and civilian, as the populace celebrates Mao Zedong’s founding declaration, exactly 60 years ago here in China’s capital.

The build up to this event has been quite something. Beijing has come to a standstill at regular intervals over the past couple of weeks as dry-runs of today’s celebrations have taken place. Tanks have once again graced the streets of Beijing, fighter jets have zipped above the city and and army of yellow-shirted volunteers have descended on every street corner throughout the city.

In the build-up to this anniversary, I have been on assignment for Canada’s Globe and Mail, covering various facets of the country’s preparations and photographing various people who have a close connection to what the country has gone through in the last 60 years.

Two weeks ago, myself and the Globe and Mail’s Mark Mackinnon headed to the city of Hangzhou, which lies just west of Shanghai. We visited this city as it has been deemed to be one of the city’s in China that has changed the most since Mao’s declaration in 1949. Hangzhou is a pleasant city, sitting next to the beautiful West Lake which dominates the center of the town. When we were there celebrations were in full swing. Chinese flags were everywhere, special ‘pillars’ has been erected next to roads to remind passing motorists of the anniversary, and people sported t-shirts with slogans celebrating the upcoming day.

Hangzhou. Father Bao Lu, in his church in central Hangzhou. 2009

Whilst witnessing the obvious fervor and excitement surrounding the 60th birthday party, we also spoke to people who offered us much more sobering accounts of where China had come from in the past six decades, offering us thoughts and memories that seem to have been ’swept under the carpet’ for most. Bao Lu, for example, is a priest that we visited in Hangzhou. He recounted stories of how all religions were prohibited during the Cultural Revolution and how his church was commandeered by the local police to be turned into a temporary prison. Yu Hua, a controversial author who is openly critical of the country’s failings during its early development, spoke to us in Beijing and told us of his worries for China’s social future.

One of the most interesting people we met for me however, was an 85 year-old lady called Hou Bo. This remarkable lady was Mao Zedong’s personal photographer before and during his rise to power to lead China. She is famous most famous here because of an iconic image she took of Mao, announcing the founding of China to the masses on October 1st 1949. She recounted that standing just a couple of feet away from Mao, she cautiously snapped away with only 8 rolls of film in her pocket. When questioned about whether she remembered the exact moment taking the picture, she replied she was more worried about falling off the balcony she was on, as she was pressed against it in order to get the wide shot of Mao.

Photographer Hou Bo in her home in Beijing. 2009

Flicking through her book of black & white images, I was stunned to see that this lady had been by Mao’s side through everything. Through the long march, the continuous fighting with the nationalists, through the founding of China and beyond. I was looking at quite epic photography and I had previously never heard of her. At a time when Henri Cartier-Bresson was flitting the streets of Paris searching for his decisive moments and Robert Capa was on the beaches of Normandy, Hou Bo was creating equally amazing work in China. You can view more images on Hou Bo here.

Needless to say, this has been another eye-opening assignment. A unique chance to see what China has become (or is becoming) and to listen to the voices of some of the people who have experienced the change first hand. To see the video that Mark, Mark’s assistant Yu Mei and I produced on this story please go here to the Globe & Mail’s website.