Yangzi River & The Three Gorges Dam
The Three Gorges Dam is one of the most ambitious and controversial building projects ever undertaken. Over a mile and a half wide and 600 feet high, when completed, it will be the world’s largest hydroelectric dam and capable of generating as much electricity as eighteen nuclear power plants. The dam will create a giant reservoir stretching over 400 miles and will allow 10,000-ton freighters to reach China’s interior from the Yangzi’s mouth on the East China Sea.
The Dam project has received intense scrutiny both from within China and abroad. Critics insist that the dam will cause more harm than good and it is true that the effects have been and will continue to be extreme. The rising waters of the reservoir have displaced over 1.2 million people and 100 towns, ancient sites have been lost forever and the habitats of several endangered species are seriously threatened. For all that has been sacrificed it is still questionable whether the dam will function as promised. Cracks have appeared as a result of faulty materials and some experts predict that the dam will become so clogged with silt that it will be rendered useless in seventy years.
Proponents of the dam look to solve many of China’s problems at once. The dam is designed to control the river’s flooding, which has claimed the lives of more than one-million people over the past century, as well as provide electricity that is desperately needed by the exploding populations of China’s cities. The dam is also a key component of China’s plan to develop the western half of the country.
For better or worse, the Three Gorges Dam is scheduled to be finished and operational in 2009. In the meantime the Yangzi basin is busy with construction to prepare for the rising waters, businessmen from Chongqing to Shanghai are figuring out the best ways to capitalize on the new possibilities that the dam creates and cruise boats of Chinese tourists are plying the waters of the Yangzi to catch a glimpse of the legendary Three Gorges scenery before it is altered forever.
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i think it is the gretest mission taken by china. and i am sure it will get succed and make a miracla.
I applaud the ambition of the Chinese to solve there problems but am outraged at the destrucyion of centuries of history.
These are stunning pictures, but I think this dam is a horrible thing. It will completely destroy many beautiful peices of Chinese culture and history, as well as evicting thousands of Chinese who do In fact bring profit to China.
I think the dam is absolutely amazing but it is such a great risk to people, cultural land, wildlife and if it doesn’t work what will China do?????? They are taking on an indescribible amount of work, effort, time, money, and most threatenly of all, RISK. Good luck to them!!
I care more ’bout the wildlife than the energy. What if a huge bopmb exploded and all technology is destroyed. Why wouldn’t you want the company of a few rare dolphins or a panda? I think the dam is a 2 thumbs DOWN.
BOMB NOT BOPMB I THOUGHT I CORRECRTED THAT!!!
Ps. Evolution is NOT TRUE
It is stupid, dumbest idea ever
This is a poorly thought through prodject which will, and has already lost more than gained. I feel it is more of a show of power to the world than a solution for power and shipping channels, think of the risk from the recent earthquakess!
(oh..and you other people need to check your spellings.)
I’ve watched with interest as the building of this damn became known in the U.S., now with this horrific earthquake, I wonder how the damn stood up under these circumstances
Continental shift occurred at the rate of the growth of the finger nail. The India continent will continue to subduct underneath the Himalaya mountain range, underneath the Asian continent. Several hundred millions of years from now, the earth quake zone will move north east and reach the present dam sites, result in earth quake underneath the areas of the dams. But in the mean time, I think we can relax .