Hao Hao ReportThe best China news and blog posts

This article, via Mask of China, makes you think how far the river has come since Mao took his famous dips. Due to droughts (and a completely disregard for hard-hitting environmental policy), the Chang Jiang (??) or Yangtse River is packed with about 7 million cubic feet of garbage congesting at the controversial Three Gorges Dam.

China’s white river dolphin appears to now be extinct, according to a team of biologists that spent six weeks searching for it in its usual habitat of the Yangtze River. This makes it the first mammal globally to become extinct in the past 50 years, despite private attempts to preserve the animal. China’s rapid industrialization and pollution of the Yangtze River have largely been to blame, with no serious attempts by government to act to save the 25 million year old species.

In the Nu River valley in southwest China, exploration work is under way for a string of hydroelectric dams. Yongchen Wang visited the region to hear what local people have to say about the controversial project, from chinadialogue.net.

Metabetable at Mark’s China Blog posts some interesting examples of the literal meaning of some Chinese words and I thought to add more to that while correcting some of his earlier translations.

Stranded ships, plagues of rats, pollution: Is China's mighty Yangtze river on the brink of environmental disaster ?

Green bloggers "China's Green Beat" explain in a new video the ecological challenges that populations are facing in the Nu River valley (Yunnan), as project for building huge dams are on their way. Interviews show local inhibitants trying to suggest some alternative solutions.

Toxic waste dumped into a river in northeastern China caused a bubbly red slick, prompting alarmed residents to buy bottled water and a complaint by Russia that Beijing was too slow in issuing a warning, news reports said Thursday.

For 20 million years, the white-fin dolphin, or baiji, swam China's longest river, the Yangtze. But a few years of breakneck development, overfishing and a massive increase in shipping have reduced sightings of this shy, graceful creature to zero.

Over one million people are facing water shortages because the Yangtze River is being ravaged by drought. But what effect will the ongoing drought have on the operation of the Three Gorges Dam? If the rain stays away, power generation targets must surely have to be amended.