The fishermen from Yanglingang are poor and can’t afford to buy a house on land, they must continue to live on their boats even when old. They fish for their livelihood and have drunken water from the Yangtze river for decades. In the last few years the river has been significantly polluted. Since 2003, factory construction has erupted all around Yanglingang. Today the little fishing village is surrounded by power plants, paper-making factories, and chemical plants.