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Loïc and Geoffroy de La Tullaye, two brothers and water explorers, have been travelling the world since 2003 on water challenges. After a life-changing trip around the world, Hydrotour, they decided to undertake a new challenge : to spend five months along the third largest river in the world, the Yantze-Kiang, from its original source, to its mouth.

They had chosen to follow the Yantze, because different parts of the river had different development and stages for how to attain water which spanned throughout the ages. They made a journey through time and space starting with the Stone Age of the River’s source, through the industrial period with the city of Chongquing to the modern streets of Shanghai. They believe the link between humanity an the acquisition of water, are some of the oldest and most developed techniques in the world.

With their own ideas in mind, the brothers mingle with people along the river and recount the adventures and stories of the people as they follow the fantastic history, and stories of the river and its shorelines.

From the high Tibetan plateaus, almost  20,000ft in altitude, where some nomadic populations still live today, the two brothers leave to cross towards the east, on motorcycle, on boat, even on tricycle after the meeting with the Chinese. As they descended through the mountains along the river to the sea, they discovered the first attemps at water supply, and other signs of first and original development. As they continued their journey, the cities became more and more developed in front of their eyes, from the yaks and the yurts to the modern buildings and cars. From the source, Shanghai is in the crosshairs of the delta. The mouth of the river and the final point of the long voyage, the city represented the culmination of a mordern world where water no longer plays the same role, or even represents the same life as that of its original source. From their expedition, they bore a new idea : « For assurance in the economic development and a durable society, man makes it an imparative to preserve the resources of water that are at its disposal ».

Five keys of the Expedition:
-    Five months of exploration.
-    4200 miles in sidecar and tricycle.
-    From 21,700 feet to 1,535 feet – A change of almost 20,200 feet!
-    3900 miles along the Yangtze, the third largest river in the world.
-    12,800ft – The Leaping Tiger’s Gorge – The deepest river canyon on Earth

China:
-    1/10th of the territory is cultivated, the rest of the country is composed of mostly mountains and deserts.
-    Half of the countries cultivated lands are irrigated, producing 180 million tons of rice annually.
-    5000 Rivers
-    87,000 Dams
-    9,491 Miles of Coastline
-    40% of the country’s water resources are consumed, contre 90% in France.

Loic : «  Following the river from its source to Shanghai was a bit like going back in time 200 years and reliving the progression of it in five months away from France, as they lived it over the course of 200 years, at least in terms of access to water. Essentially, we can say that we rediscovered what these people were doing, what our great-great grandparents had to do when they went to fetch water from a wellm some much farther than others, every day. We rediscovered the first communal access to water, the first tap in the village, the first integration of water within the home – a luxury. When the water that reaches the faucet is ready to drink, it’s something that is still unbelieveable to some parts of the world, while to us in France it seems only natural ! Besides, we don’t even know where the water comes from in our pipes. It flows from the tap, it’s pure, it’s safe, it’s hot, you drink it directly – but in truth, we don’t even know where it is from ! »

Geoffroy : «  When I was here in Shanghai, I didn’t even belive it had only been a little more than five months from the source, and that this giant river that we were seeing at the mouth of the Yangtze was no longer the small drips of water that we had seen prior.I had to see it. It took me meeting the people along the way that truly allowed me to understand the full role and meaning of water within our society. »