Tireless efforts, then early death

When Xiao Liangzhong returned from Beijing to visit his family's farm in Chezhou village on the banks of the Jinsha River in Yunnan in early December, his parents were worried.

His father, Xiao Jialin, was concerned about the health of the young anthropologist. Xiao Liangzhong, a member of the Bai ethnic minority, had been leading a fight against plans to build a dam downstream on the famed Tiger Leaping Gorge.

Backed by the Yunnan government and the Huaneng Energy Corporation, the project is part of an eight-dam power scheme for the Jinsha, which forms the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.

The Tiger Leaping Gorge dam would flood close to 400 sq km of land, inundating Chezhou in the process, and forcing out 100,000 people.

To stop the project, Mr Xiao worked day and night, contacting environmentalists and journalists. His father begged him to rest. 'I told Liangzhong he needed to rest his mind. He could not keep on going like this,' he said.

His mother, Sun Yuqiong, was anxious about his safety.

'Aren't you going to get targeted?' she asked her son before he returned to Beijing.