Bringing life back to Qukou
I first visited Qukou, a township in Kaixian county, Chongqing, in the winter of 2012. I was left with a deep impression of the air pollution, the large number of plastic bags and pieces of paper discarded in the streets, and the green algae blooms that drifted on the surface of the river and grew along the banks. The trees were withered and dying.
I met a 50-something farmer who had injured his left leg while working in a factory in a different province as a migrant worker. The injury had forced him to return to Qukou, where he lived on the compensation the government had provided for land commandeered for the construction of the Three Gorges Dam, even though the sum was too small to support him for the rest of his life.
I don't remember his name, but the sight of him limping away is embedded in my memory.