Photos of the Yangtze
and Explorations of Rural China

Monday, March 14, 2005 at 5:00 PM

Donahue Auditorium
Dolan Center for Science & Technology
John Carroll University
Cleveland Heights, Ohio

Linda Butler, well-known and highly regarded local photographer, will speak on the creative experience involved in photographing rural areas affected by the Three Gorges Dam project on the Yangtze River in central China .

Her photography project involved eight separate trips to China over a three year span to capture the changing landscape wrought by the dam. The resulting spectacular photographs and accompanying narrative have been published in her most recent book, Yangtze Remembered.

project assignment

Having attended Linda Butler's lecture on Monday, March 14, 2005, at John Carroll University, write a short (three to five page) analytical essay exploring ways in which the Three Gorges Dam project at the heart of her presentation illustrates aspects of our course discussions of issues surrounding "power" and "authority" and its legitimazation within the contemporary Chinese political and cultural context.

In your discussion you might want to consider the ways in which this massive construction project both helps and harms the Chinese Communist Party hold on political power and its authority in the eyes of the international community of nations, the Chinese people as a whole and those more directly affected by local dislocations and other factors involved in project implementation.

A good online source for more information on this topic can be found on the RESOURCES page for the PBS documentary on the Three Gorges Project entitled "The Great Wall Across the Yangtse."

Your essay should demonstrate an understanding of both the course-related concepts discussed and their relationship to the John Carroll lecture presentation, illustrating in the process your ability to integrate the two in a meaningful and fruitful manner.

The submitted essay must follow established course expectations with respect to the presentation of written assignments and is due no later than Monday, March 21, 2005. Successful completion of the assignment will earn ten points towards the 500 point total accumulated during the course of the semester.