Nujiang - yesterday, today - but no tomorrow?

The next few posts describe some of my travels along the beautiful Nu Jiang (Nu river) valley in Yunnan over Christmas. I was following in the footsteps of Joseph Rock again, specifically his trip which he described in the National Geographic of August 1926 as "Through the Great River Trenches of Asia" (referring to the parallel rivers of the Salween/Nu, the Mekong/Lancang and the Yangtze/Jinsha. The Nujiang is still an unspoiled paradise, but perhaps not for much longer. Like the other rivers mentioned, there are plans to dam the Nujiang at several places along its length. I have previously described plans to build dams on other rivers such as the Litang river. One can only take hope from the recent announcement that the planned dam on the Yangtze/Jinsha that would have destroyed the Tiger Leaping Gorge has been cancelled by the order of the central government. Let's hope they also see sense in regard to the Nujiang dams.

Here are the ones planned, including those at Bingzhongluo and Songta, places described in my travel account.