Customer Reviews

Challenging China's Yangtze 1 & 2 [VHS]

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There is a tremendous 'true story' in the 1986 Sino-USA Upper Yangtze River Expedition... definitely "theatrical" material (as a film maker & river guide I was closely involved with Ken Warren and some of his Expedition Projects - presently I'm working on the screenplay adaption of the story). Here are the events as featured in this magnificent documentary, "in a nutshell": Half a century of defeated exploratory attempts to "conquer" the Upper Yangtze Gorge: "The Mount Everest of Rivers - The Last Great Exploration on Earth" (usually ending in death). Ken Warren, an American adventurer receives permission to run the river (after 7 years of difficult political negotiations with Chinese authorities - his interest in pursuing the Yangtze exploration began during a 1977 exploratory descent of India's Ganges River. Robert Duval participated in the expedition as the star for an ABC SPORTS 'American Sportsman' episode). Warren and his wife Jan (still a great friend of mine) take a team to China in 1983; they get caught in a "red tape" error by one of the provincial governments. The team spends valuable time "in limbo" and runs up tremendous expenses (due to film crew lodging, etc.) They have to leave the country, not even having seen the river. The Warrens lose half a million dollars (their own money) and go bankcrupt as a result of the disaster. Obsessed by their cause, they manage to give it another shot and pull off a TV deal with ABC Sports, a National Geographic sponsorship, etc. in 1986; A new team goes to China to attempt an "unheard of" descent of 2000 unchartered miles of furious river. After finally making it to the river's source (in the Tibetan Plateau - 16,000 feet altitude - with pack-yaks and porters) the expedition continues (with kayaks and rafts) from the icey and shallow source of the river. Due to remoteness and government failure to provide the "guaranteed" helicopter support, a team mate (National Geographic Assignment Photographer David Shippee) dies of pulminary edema (altitude sickness) related lung complications. The team is shaken and tensions arise. A sense of disillusionment is brought on by the harsh realities. Everyone is now conscious of the real dangers of their quest. Radio contact with the 'land support unit' breaks up often, yet sporadic contact brings unexpected news of a 'Chinese Rival Expedition' already on the river, "out of the blue" (ahead of the Americans)..., as Chinese pride was on the line about foreigners being the first to explore their river, so a few inexperienced Chinese students threw together some 'makeshift equipment', challenging the western attempt to a 'first conquest' of 'China's River'. Due to their inexperience, some twelve members of the Chinese team drown in the furious whitewater sections, quite a distance below the American expedition (which is far upstream at this point). Hearing the sporadic news of this disaster via radio transmissions, the American team's 'fear of the unknown' grows 'out of proportion' and turns 'dreams of glory and adventure' into nightmarish visions of 'death in a foreign land'; as a result of all of this 'death & disaster', a mutiny of about half the team, leaves the expedition in 'dire straits'. The mutineers return to the States and begin to 'slander Warren's 'expedition planning & leadership as incompetent and treacherous' (Warren, still in China for about three more weeks at this point, is unable to defend himself and takes a major beating by the media, based on the accounts of the mutineers) Those that remained, along with Ken and Jan Warren, abort the exploration 800 miles short of their original goal, due to food shortages, equipment failures and other causes (after successfully completing 1200 miles). By the time they returne to the US, lawsuits abound by both sides. At stake are at this point the very essence of 'modern day expedition leadership & the responsibilities of individual participation'. Among the legal charges are negligence, breach of contract, involuntary manslaughter, etc. In the end, the Warren's, though financially ruined for the remainder of Ken's life, won 7 lawsuits and countersuits that helped define the perimeters of conducting exploratory expeditions in our time and for generastions to come. Ken Warren unexpectadly dies from a heart attack in 1991. At the time he was planning a return to the Yangtze, to complete the remaining 800 miles, a stretch that includes the "rivers peak" the infamous "Tigers Leaping Gorge". Jan Warren commits her late husband's ashes to the Ganges River in India. I shot and produced a documentary entitled 'RAFTING THE RIM - Ganga Mayi, River of Return' about this touching last chapter of Ken Warren's life. While 'Challenging China's Yangtze' deos not include many of the details mentioned in my comment, it is interesting to know the surrounding factors for complete and informed enjoyment of this great documentary. Let me reemphasize, this is one of the great true stories of our time.

I was hired for the summer in 1978 as a rafting crewman by Lute Jerstad Adventures (LJA) between my junior and senior years at Stanford University. I already had some experience and expertise at reading water, which probably helped me get the job: my father, brother and I ran streches of a minor Ganges river tributary, the beautiful Ramganga river, in the middle 1960's and my family had been running Oregon's wild Deschutes river in our jet boat while I was in high school in Portland.

In my first trip with LJA, I rode through the night from Portland to Hells Canyon dam on the Snake, with Warrem telling us of great rafting adventures, especially upstream on the remote Owyhee tributary. When we pushed off the next morning, as a newbie I was given responsibility for rowing alone the big 18-foot baggage raft. It was a blast, since the raft was well nigh unflippable and one could guide it through big water that smaller, client-manned, rafts wisely would avoid.

Ken certainly was a skilled waterman but he and his staff had an unbending management style that grated on me more and more as the summer wore on. As I recall, Ken spoke to others pretty much only his own terms in a "this is it", "my way or the highway" manner. I ended up despising some of the decisions, was probably seen as disloyal and so spent nearly the whole summer back with the baggage raft (mostly fine by me, by the way). After my last trip Ken rang me up, furious that I had questioned as reckless his sleepy deputy's decision to be the only one driving all four or five of us back 300 miles from the river to Portland. "You're fired" he yelled and I yelled back "only Jerstad can fire me, and anyway I quit!".

In 1986, as fate would have it, I was a first-tour Foreign Service Officer in Canton, China and one of two at the consulate who met with the four "mutineers" mentioned in the comment above, after Warren's Yangtze expedition blew up and the four left the river. From my experience with Warren, their account rang true and I told them so.

I believe Warren had great raw courage. But the young man from Idaho, David Shippee, showed at least as much bravery under the circumstances, I think. He signed on for a grand adventure, then encountered life-threatening risks, but nonetheless still faced them all by himself and so kept his bond to his teammates and to the expedition.

For the "other side" of the highly controversial Warren-led Sino-USA Upper Yangtze River Expedition, read Bang & Kallen, Riding the Dragon's Back (1989, Athenium). This is a highly readable and an exciting account of river rafting the rapids of the upper Yangtze. This video is an excellent companion to Bang & Kallen's book.