Reading Between the Lines in China News

I'll show you a neat trick. Start by checking out this tidbit, feel free to just glance over it:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091018/ap_on_re_as/as_china_water

Then think about the scale of the effort. The Chinese are willing to build a water diversion all the way from Danjiangkou to Beijing to water the capital city area. Now if Danjiangkou is unfamiliar, not to worry, google maps shows where it is:
Google map links are huge

You will have to zoom out a little bit and then some, but that's just to emphasize the distance. It's a long, long way from Beijing.

Now please go back to the original news article and see if you can find any numbers. I'll help again. 330,000 people will have to relocate, the project will cost $63 billion, it will finish 2014 and it will provide a quarter of the water Beijing needs.

This gives us a lot to work with. 900 kilometers, billions of dollars and just five years to completion. We have translated an article topic from "China news" to What Is Really Going On

"China starts resettling 330,000 for water project" can be read "The Chinese have huge problems supplying potable water"

I can only assume the original AP author wasn't given the permission or didn't have the time to actually write anything except the facts. He or she couldn't get to the obvious conclusion that the greatest challenge facing China in the near future is not going to be economical, it is going to be ecological.

Nothing will drive a mass of people from their homes like the lack of water, and if Beijing is getting this treatment, they will think they should too. The article appears innocent enough, but for me it's scary reading.