THREAD. This morning I took a flight to Chengdu (2000km away from Shanghai) to interview Fan Xiao, a respected Chinese geologist and a long-standing critic of the Three Gorges Dam. We were supposed to talk about the environmental impact of the giant dam. 1/4

I met him, he was happy to see us but he told us that a few hours before we arrived, he received a call from the national security police. They put pressure on him and asked him not to talk to the foreign journalists. He was forced to decline the interview. 2/4

Still, he invited us to have a cup of tea in his apartment. But we were never left alone. A CCP member followed us inside and made sure that we were not interviewing him. 3/4

Fan Xiao is not a dissident, nor a human rights defender. He is « just » a geologist. Under Xi Jinping’s China, the pressure is put on everybody, even on scientists who just talk about facts. 4/4 @fccchina

Today we left Chengdu and flew to Yichang, where the Three Gorges Dam is located. This time, we didn’t fix any interview, we only planned to film the dam and meet some former fishermen around. 1/3

But as soon as we went out of Yichang airport, three plainclothes agent started to follow us. After 4 years in China they are easily recognizable. They always pretend to be on the phone and they turn their heads when we look at them. Here is one of them. 2/3

Once they’re here, we know that we can’t work anymore. They follow us everywhere and prevent us from doing interviews. So we decided to leave Yichang. @angeliqueforget, our Chinese producer and I are going back to Shanghai, relieved to know that the dam is in safe custody ! 3/3