Nujiang is one of the last two undammed rivers left in China. Beijing is deliberating building a series of dams in its Big Canyon, which runs roughly 300km parallel to the Myanmar border. For five weeks I village-hopped the canyon, where I ate embarrassing amount of food and killed a duck. People there said “a sheet of car” and brewed creamy corn liquor. Their land had crippling beauty and sustained scant living. S said next time we will go to the flower-crowned lake where water tastes of herbs.