Month: June 2025

Three Gorges Dam Relocation Costs

by

In 1994, construction began on the Three Gorges Dam water conservancy project. By 2007, a total of 129.64 million people had been relocated from areas that were to be flooded or were considered dangerous. However, only a budget of 52.9 billion yuan was allocated for resettlement. A rough calculation shows that this only averages out to 40,805 yuan per person.

In 2007, the average per capita net income of farmers was 4,140 yuan. Relocation costs almost ten times their annual income might not have been so bad.

Specifically, relocation costs were divided into land compensation, housing compensation, resettlement compensation, and other compensations. Land compensation was six to ten times the average annual output of the three years prior to expropriation (from the “Land Administration Law of the People’s Republic of China”). However, no information could be found from those involved or public documents regarding the exact amount of this money.

Housing compensation was around 200 yuan/m², with differences between rural and urban housing. Considering that the average per capita residential area in cities was 15 square meters, compensation could exceed 3,000 yuan.

According to the Guangdong resettlement plan for Three Gorges immigrants, the price of immigrant housing was 480 yuan/m², but immigrants only paid 250 yuan/m². A personal housing construction payment of 5,000 yuan per person was also provided (essentially free housing). Then there was a production resettlement fee of 10,449 yuan/person, an infrastructure fee of 5,020 yuan/person, land acquisition of 10,000 yuan/person, a housing construction subsidy of 4,600 yuan/person, and other subsidies of 1,148 yuan/person.

In total, this amounted to housing and 31,217 yuan in subsidies. This was provided by the relocation destination. The relocation origin area (the area affected by the Three Gorges Dam) also had to pay some compensation for housing and ancillary facilities.

However, these subsidies were only available to those relocating to a different location. Subsidies for those relocating within the same region were possibly roughly halved. The differences in language and climate were smaller. However, some immigrants returned to their hometowns due to environmental differences and other reasons.

There were also likely cases of embezzlement, resulting in some relocated individuals receiving only 5,000 yuan in subsidies and no housing… and land compensation of only 2,701 yuan per mu, 3.5 times the average annual output, far below the regulations of the “Land Administration Law”.

Postscript: After seeing news reports about how some residents did not receive compensation for their villages being flooded by the reservoir, I wanted to research the resettlement costs of the Three Gorges Dam.

Era-Specific Characteristics in Animated Works: Part Two

by

《Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX》 has concluded for a few days, but the controversy is unexpectedly large, with a bangumi score of only 6.4, and a MAL score of 7.12.

The reason for this situation is, in addition to director Kazuya Hirumaki bringing a story that may require newtype abilities to understand. There is also a difference in thought from the old work “Mobile Suit Gundam”, lacking a protagonist who wants to correct various injustices and bear various responsibilities.

This can perhaps be explained by the characteristics of the times. The social background of the old work era included the Cold War and student movements, so characters like Amuro and Kamyu are easy for people to empathize with. However, for now, these social backgrounds are somewhat distant and have become historical records.

The current social background, “lying flat” and emptiness (nihilism) may be keywords. Although the public generally does not like to take on various responsibilities and bind themselves to what others expect, when such characters appear in the work, such as Shinji in Evangelion, the audience’s average opinion is more polarized. Perhaps it is seeing oneself in them and showing a kind of “self-loathing”.

The two protagonists in GQuuuuuuX seem to be more “lying flat” and empty. Tenju Yoroi (Machiu) is dissatisfied with the daily life of the colony Side 6 and always has an unreal feeling. But he does not seem to actively seek solutions, and it is only after Nyaan unexpectedly delivers contraband that Machiu enters the non-daily life.

Nyaan’s situation is unexpectedly simple. After his hometown becomes a battlefield, he escapes in a small MS, and his primary goal is to survive. So, to some extent, the protagonists are “living peacefully”, have no interest in changing the environment, and will not correct people they dislike.

Social responsibility is left to the characters of the old work to bear, after all, these people are soldiers, politicians, etc., the people responsible for these issues. Perhaps because of this, Shalia Bul, who is full of ambition and strong means, is more like the protagonist, but he is also one of the people who did not show positive emotions in the ending.

On the contrary, Machiu, who lives for himself and establishes connections with others (including GQuuuuuuX), is not as empty as he was at the beginning. However, Nyaan has not changed much overall. It would be nice if there were a sequel.

Postscript: Referenced 呜喵Mania and JK低手鱼太‘s comments on GQuuuuuuX.

Problems Caused by Frame of Reference Differences

by

Is my blue your blue? (Is My Blue Your Blue?), this is a test website created by neuroscience and AI researcher Patrick Mineault. The website displays hues from 150 to 210 for visitors to identify as green or blue.

Due to differences in the proportions of cone cells in different people, differences in language descriptions of colors (Differences in Language Descriptions of Color), and other reasons, there are significant differences in the identification of color boundaries by different people.

The same is true for seasons. In regions with distinct seasons, people living in the Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere have opposite descriptions of the seasons. So the Australian summer is from November to February of the following year. Most international events do not localize for Australia, so Australians have become accustomed to this “Northern Hemisphere-centric” reality.

There are also offset problems with the political spectrum. If the current right wing is placed on the spectrum of more than 100 years ago, it may seem to be left-leaning. Because society as a whole is moving to the left, although it is still called left and right, the specific values differ greatly. When the political spectrum has influential extreme values, such as the extreme left, the midpoint of the spectrum will also change. Some who were originally on the left may become right…

Gaming Guilds

by

Many games in China with world chat features now have strict restrictions, such as level requirements, prohibited words, and posting limits. This is due to increased censorship and the actions of “gaming guilds”.

These “gaming guilds” used to advertise in various game world channels, inviting like-minded gamers to join QQ groups for chats. However, after players joined the guild’s QQ group for a while, the guild leader would recommend a better game. To show sincerity, they might even give new members a level 1 VIP (although the VIP level might be as high as level 9).

What happened after that, gledos is not sure, as after playing for a few days and feeling it was just a reskinned game, he quit. However, a veteran game industry professional, 江湖人称石老怪, revealed these “gaming guild” tactics in a video.

When players show a willingness to spend money, the guild’s shills provide emotional value, such as pretending to be female players and asking to get married in the game. Marriage requires buying rings, but the guild’s pricing is exorbitant, with rings costing up to 2000 yuan. There is also negative emotional value: the GM pretends to be a player, using a slightly stronger character than big spenders (RMB players), chasing and attacking them to stimulate a desire to compete and spend more money.

Although few players are willing to spend such a high price, only a small number of big spenders are needed for the guild to make (or swindle) a lot of money. Shi Laoguai conservatively estimates that the “gaming guild” industry has over one million employees, and its revenue accounts for 10~20% of the total game industry output value. Later, due to stricter censorship of world channels, guilds mainly switched to recruiting via phone calls.

However, due to telecommunication companies cracking down on fraud, individuals who make a few dozen calls will be restricted. Restrictions on game licenses and crackdowns on fake licenses have rendered the guild’s past tactics largely ineffective.

A Second Brain Powered by Multimodal LLMs

by

After updating Color OS to version 830, a one-click flash memory / Xiaobub memory function was added. Since the OnePlus Ace 5 Pro does not have a dedicated AI key, the one-click flash memory can only be started by swiping up with three fingers. After waiting for a while, the content will be saved to Xiaobub memory.

The principle of Xiaobub memory is to take a screenshot and have it processed by a multimodal LLM to generate a summary and tags for the screenshot (it can also associate similar memories), making it easy to retrieve later. For some compatible apps, it can also read the full text and links via API, making Xiaobub memory a cross-app content collection function.

It is called Xiaobub memory because the system’s built-in AI: Xiaobub Assistant, can access this content. However, all this depends on the network, and there are privacy issues. Many apps have not adapted the API, so gledos will not use it. But this design is very interesting, and we look forward to an open-source implementation in the future.

The Death List

by

After a serious disaster or accident, should a death list be published? International practice is to contact the families, and when the families agree to the public release of names, the names will be released through the media. What does publishing a death list mean?

If there are only death tolls, as in the Battle of Verdun, where over 250,000 people died, it doesn’t feel real, it’s just a large number (unless you watch related documentaries and understand the specifics of the battle).

But with specific names, acquaintances can disclose what kind of person they were, making it feel like more than just a number, but real people. And the families of the victims usually hold public memorial and mourning activities on the anniversary, and may even erect a monument.

This can also be felt in Cyberpunk 2077, for example, “Good morning, Night City! Yesterday’s dead man lottery, the final result is a full thirty! Thanks to the endless gang warfare, ten people died in Heywood alone. But one officer also died, and I think you’re all going to pay”. Here, the description of the victims does not include names, and the process is also vague. But the alcohol in the Afterlife bar has various specific names, such as David Martinez.