Boat Trip, Tablets for Poor County Inspection

A month-long government inspection of living conditions and local officialdom near the Three Gorges Dam racked up an astonishing 801,900 yuan bill – an amount equal to the annual incomes of 229 local farmers.

That's not to say local residents in Zigui County, one of the poorest in China, did not appreciate the chance to air grievances during the April-May visit by the Hubei Province's Communist Party Committee's No. 6 Inspection Team.