Under the Boot - The Burma Army clears the way for Chinese dams on the Shweli River

Organization: Ta'ang Students and Youth Organization

AThis is the story of Man Tat village, a hamlet of 700 ethnically Palaung tea and rice farmers, fishers, hunters, mothers, and children. The village is located 90 kilometers from the Chinese town of Ruili, inside northern Burma. In late 2000, 300 armed soldiers from Burma's army converged on the village and set up a permanent base there. Unbeknownst to the villagers, Burma's military junta was planning to build a hydropower dam in their sacred Shweli River togheter with Chinese companies. Nothing has been the same since.