What happens
A Yangtze riverboat family navigates a flooded river gorge with a cargo of goods bound for Hankow. The river runs high and savage, and the crew fights to hold the junk against the current through the night. The mother recalls a life spent on the river, her husband's death in the revolution, and her son's decision to leave the water to help repair the flood-damaged dikes and canals. The story then follows the family as Japanese forces advance up the river, and the crew is sent downstream to rescue machinery from the coming invasion. The episode is part of The Pacific Story, first broadcast on February 18, 1945.
The Yangtze River in central China, including the Wushan Gorge, Hankow, and the river towns below it, during flood and wartime.
Characters: Chin-ley, Old One, Juan, Tao, Chu
Listen for: The raging river and the crew's struggle through the gorge at night, and the description of Japanese warships advancing up the river toward Hankow.
Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.