On a recent afternoon near the site of the Myitsone Dam, there was no sign of Chinese workers or dam-building equipment. From the bank of the Irrawaddy, the only movement visible near the unfinished dam site was a slender fishing skiff that drifted lazily on the current.

Residents of Aung Myin Tha, a nearby village where about 300 families were resettled, said it had some advantages, like the 16-bed hospital and roads built by the dam developer. But most families now have less farmland and diminished access to the Irrawaddy and traditional hunting grounds, and opposition to the dam remains strong.

“If the Lady lets it happen, Kachin people will protest,” said one villager, Daw Ja Khawn, using the popular moniker for Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi. “We’ll get the whole country behind us, which will be easy because the whole country is already against it.”

Dozens of families have taken matters into their own hands, moving back to their old villages, even though electricity was cut off there.

“I built my house to challenge the Chinese,” said one, Daw Lu Ra, who was eating a freshly caught fish by candlelight at a restaurant overlooking the headwaters. “Even if they told me to move again, I wouldn’t.”