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The Three Gorges Dam
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Through the centuries, the
Yangzi
's unruly nature has been a source of trauma for local people, and conquering the river's tendency to flood extravagantly once a decade has become a symbol of limitless power in China. So far this has only been achieved in legend, when the mythical Shang emperor Yu quelled twelve capricious water dragons. However, by 2009 the river may finally come under human control. After almost a century of planning (the idea was first mooted by Sun Yatsen), the
Three Gorges Dam
, currently under construction at
Sandouping
, about 30km upstream from Yichang, will be the largest of its kind in the world, the 185-metre-high wall creating an artificial lake extending back 670km through the Three Gorges to Chongqing. Though investment has been promoted through the dam's hydroelectric potential - its eventual output will provide ten percent of all China's power needs - it's the dam's flood-controlling capabilities that blunt-speaking CCP front-man
Zhu Rongji
is using to counter mounting protests against the project, which many see as inviting disaster on all fronts. Eventual costs are estimated at around A?205 billion and rising, partly due to developers pocketing funds; while increased water levels of up to 115m through the Three Gorges will submerge countless communities, requiring the
relocation
of millions of people - a highly controversial issue, which has already led to clashes where transmigrants have been resettled on other people's lands.
The consequences of the completed dam wall giving way don't bear thinking about, but protesters also point out that the project will probably do little to relieve flooding - which occurs along downstream tributaries as much as the Yangzi itself - and say it would be more effective and cheaper to build a string of lesser dams. And, as of late 1999, there were coded signals in the Chinese press - including public admissions of the levels of extortion involved in the dam's construction, and problems with former gorge residents who have refused to be resettled elsewhere - that the government just might be considering scaling down the project, which has yet to reach a point of no return Other useful information
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China,
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