Villagers make light of 'sacrifices'

On the way to Hualiba village, I watched a 45-minute documentary made by China Central Television last year about the people who had been relocated.

I was moved by the sacrifices the migrants had made for the project, but also surprised by the footage of neat, red-roofed, three-story houses that dotted the plain. The scenes prompted me to ask how the lives of the residents have changed in the years since they were relocated.

When I got off the bus and walked along the street, I saw houses that looked exactly like the ones in the documentary, but when I got closer, I discovered that many had cracked walls, and three houses had no glass in the windows on the third story.

An elderly villager surnamed Wang, his clothes crumpled, untidy and spattered with mud, told me his window had been broken last year, but as no one lives on the third floor he simply left it unrepaired.

The locals were very welcoming. When they heard I was "a reporter from the capital", a small number gathered around and said they were willing to answer my questions. Han Guilian, whom I mention in the main story, even welcomed me into her house for a cup of tea. She pointed at her cracked wall and told me the house leaks during rainstorms.

The poor quality of farmland around the village was the subject of most complaints. The six villagers I spoke with all said they had been allocated less land than promised, which led them to feel that their lives are not as good as before they were relocated. I understood their concerns and anger; they have been growing the same crops for years, but suddenly their incomes have fallen as a result of being moved to make way for the water project.

What really surprised me was that they felt their sacrifices had been worthwhile, and for the good of the nation, despite the decline in their earnings. There was no sense of resignation, either. "If there's nothing we can do, why not just try to be happy and positive?" Han said. When I left the village, she asked me to visit her again sometime in the future: "Hopefully, by then the wall will be fixed."

I think I will return one day, just to see if that wish comes true.