Part II. Yan Yu follows up his first film with Before the Flood II, a…
Waking the Green Tiger
View on The Global Environmental Justice site
Curator
This film was chosen by Ken Berthel, Assistant Professor of Chinese, Whittier College
Why I selected this film
Waking the Green Tiger frames the unprecedented success of a grassroots environmental movement as a pivotal moment in the context of the detrimental environmental practices of the recent past, suggesting that this success might represent a foothold for a more burgeoning democratic movement. The film can serve as an excellent jumping-off point for a number of important topics, including environmental justice, political activism, Chinese environmental history, and the power of documentary filmmaking.
Marcuse’s film will appeal to educators who wish to focus on environmental justice, tensions between rising demands for energy and environmental protection, and the power of grassroots movements to effect unexpected outcomes in political contexts as challenging as the one in contemporary China. Waking the Green Tiger will be relevant for courses in environmental studies, Chinese cultural studies, sociology, anthropology, political science, law, and film, among others.
Teacher's guide
Please see the teacher's guide for maps, background information and suggested subjects, questions and activities.
Synopsis
Seen through the eyes of activists, farmers, and journalists, Waking the Green Tiger follows an extraordinary campaign to stop a massive dam project on the Upper Yangtze River in southwestern China that would displace 100,000 people.
Featuring astonishing archival footage never seen outside China and interviews with witnesses and a government insider, the documentary also tells the history of Chairman Mao’s campaigns to conquer nature in the name of progress.
An environmental movement takes root when a new environmental law is passed, and for the first time in China’s history, ordinary citizens have the democratic right to speak out and take part in government decisions. Activists test this new freedom and save a river. The movement they trigger has the potential to transform China.
The environmental justice focus of the film
The film deals with questions of individual and local group agency over the environmental conditions in which they live, with reference to associated tensions that arise among farmers, non-governmental organizations,hydroelectric power profiteers, and government agencies.
Updates
October 2020: For an update on the current status of dam construction and the obstacles faced by NGOs on the upper Yangtze see
https://e360.yale.edu/features/with-activists-silenced-china-moves-ahead-on-big-dam-project
Waking the Green Tiger is wonderful, an amazing story that opens an unexpected window onto China. - Ronald Wright, author of A Short History of Progress
…the perfect balance between information and entertainment, condensing several decades of history into a rousing portrait of China’s emerging green movement. — Brett Kessler, ABC 7.com
Citation
Main credits
Marcuse, Gary (film director)
Marcuse, Gary (film producer)
Marcuse, Gary (screenwriter)
Carson, Betsy (film producer)
Hewlett, David (narrator)
Other credits
Editor, Stuart De Jong; cinematographer, Rolf Cutts; composers, Henry Heillig, Doug Wilde; consultant, Judith Shapiro.
Distributor subjects
Animals and Animal Rights
Asian Studies
Biodiversity
China
Communication and Media Studies
Conflict Resolution
Dams
Democracy
Economics
ecosystem restoration
Ecosystems
Environmental Anthropology
Environmental Geography
Environmental History
Environmental Justice
Environmental Law
Ethics
Farming
Film and Video Studies
Food
Forestry
Forests
Gender Studies
Grasslands and Prairies
Habitat Loss
History
Human Rights
Human Rights Law
Indigenous Studies
Journalism
Manufacturing
Political Ecology
Pollution
Public Health
Religion
Revolution
Rivers
Solutions
Sustainability
Water
Wetlands
Women
Gender
Keywords
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