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Villagers were told that their new homes would be sturdier than the traditional Nu homes. They were assured that life would be more convenient with the new village located adjacent to the Nu River. Hualong New Village would have a community bathroom and the government had purchased a parcel of land so that they could farm. In reality, the land is nothing more than a glorified bunch of stones sitting atop soil so poor that it can't support crops. In Dimaluo people had ample farmland, plenty of pasture, and were a short walk away from the productive forest; they also had more than enough clean water to drink. Would life in the new village really be easier? The resettlers traded beautiful wooden homes in a temperate sub-alpine valley filled with friends and family for a lifeless cluster of concrete shacks. "All the government did was build the houses; we had to put the walkway in," remarked the leader. "We were given these houses and $60 per person to move. Nothing else. We've gone to the government several times to ask for better compensation, but they refuse to help us."

The company building the Dimaluo Power Station pledged $500,000 for the resettlement project. The 65 people that moved to Hualong New Village wonder what happened to the remainder of this money. It is unlikely that $3900 in moving compensation and 18 simple concrete homes could amount to such a large amount of capital. In the meantime, the families are subsisting on leftovers from last year's corn crop. They are unable to grow enough food to eat, so once their stores go empty, they will go hungry. No one has been able to get a job, not even at the new power station, and there is no money to buy food in the coming months. The village also lacks a school, and parents worry that without an education their children will also have a difficult time finding work in the future. Hualong New Village doesn't even have a basketball court, which is "absolutely required," according to one resident. The Dimaluo Power Station displacees lament the loss of their favorite exercise, as they used to enjoy playing a little ball after they ate dinner. "Life was so much better in the old village. There's nothing to do here-it's boring," they lamented.

Dam building in Yunnan Province provides clean energy for tens of millions in Chinese cities; the decision to improve air quality seems straightforward enough. But what about the minority that sacrifices to bring good to China's urbanites? The eighteen families in Hualong New Village are now in the midst of a health crisis. They don't have enough land to feed themselves, and some families are already going hungry. There are no educational opportunities for the children, and jobs are scarce. The forest, home to medicinal plants of economic value, is too far for easy foraging. The villagers have no means to generate an income and no money to purchase the food they can't grow. Some have resorted to heavy drinking to numb their depression. If this is how development and resettlement are to change people's lives, what will become of the 50,000 people displaced when the Angry River is dammed? The rest of China will surely benefit, but the Hualong New Village residents expressed pessimism about the futures of their neighbors. As the leader of the village pointed out, "It's the same government that will handle the resettlement and compensation programs."