Back in June, Conrad referred poetically to the Three Gorges Dam as “the world’s largest open-air latrine.” True enough. But this update reminds us that the filth and pollution are just one aspect of why the entire project smells.

It’s a source of pride to the Chinese Government, but also of corruption and resentment the scale of which is only now starting to fully emerge.

Xiang Tian San: “They told us to move up the hill and re-locate over there. They tore down my old home. My wife was inside at the time and she was killed. And they didn’t give us enough compensation. So we’ve not got a new house. Only this shelter I built.”

He says corrupt local officials siphoned off relocation money his family was entitled to. He built his new shelter from the debris of his old home, and doesn’t know who to complain to. The local Communist Party boss refuses to meet him.

Xiang added: “He stole so much money and built a huge house in Wushan. Now they won’t let us go near him.”

His complaints are echoed by others in this village, also living in shelters.

And as we discovered on a journey down the Yangtze, this is far from being an isolated case.

I try to imagine what these people are going through, with no one to listen to them as their loved ones are killed, as their homes are destroyed and local officials siphon off the money they were promised. I try, but I can’t do it. It’s just too terrible; it can’t possibly be true. But it is.