Three Gorges Dam: A River Tamed, A Nation Divided
 How do you reign in the wild, flooding Yangtze
River? How do you generate enough power to sustain a nation’s
ever-growing population? And how do you increase tourism by the hundred-thousands
while protecting the livelihood of 15 million people? China thinks
it has the answer: the Three Gorges Dam.
One-and-a-half miles wide and more than 600 feet high, the Three Gorges Dam has become
a source of national pride and controversy. Construction began in
1994 and the dam is expected to take a staggering 17 years to complete.
Engineers imagine 10,000-ton freighters sailing right into the heart
of the nation, opening the region up to enormous economic growth.
 Economists anticipate the countless possibilities of inexpensive
electricity and affordable river transportation. And who live along
the Yangtze dream of their great river free from the cycle of flooding
and devastation that has plagued them for centuries.
As early as the mid-1950s, Mao Zedong ordered studies
on damming the river, and the bar is now set incredibly high. China continually
pools enormous financial, political, and technical resources into the
project, convinced of its potential to change China’s economic and physical landscape.
But the costs are high, and the dam has many detractors.
Environmentalists, political activists, and inhabitants of the land around the Yangtze
River are convinced the Three Gorges Dam will cause far more destruction
than revitalization. Some already call it an environmental disaster,
pointing to the lack of planning for the removal of toxic chemicals
and other pollutants sure to accumulate during construction. Endangered
species surrounding the Yangtze will be threatened, as will relics
from the ancient homeland of the Ba people, who settled in the region
4,000 years ago.
But the biggest controversy has more to do with
the present than the past. Construction of the dam will force more
than a million people out of the region entirely, with little to
no compensation for relocation.
 So
why forge ahead with this massive project with so many obstacles
in its way?
This immense symbol of vitality is expected to provide one-ninth of China’s electricity,
save its inhabitants from potential devastating floods, and open
the world’s doors to new and invigorating trade possibilities.
Will the benefits of the largest and most powerful hydroelectric
creation in history outweigh the potentially crippling losses? Only
time will tell.
Factoids:
Journalist Dai Qing
was jailed for 10 months for publicly criticizing the Three Gorges
Dam.
The dam will contain twice the concrete of the Itaipu project
in Brazil, the world’s largest dam.
Still Curious?
http://www.pbs.org/itvs/greatwall/dam.html
PBS’s site about the film project “The Great Wall Across
The Yangtze.”
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/1999/china.50/asian.superpower/three.gorges
CNN report on the benefits and drawbacks of the Three Gorges Dam.
http://www.irn.org/programs/threeg
International Rivers Network site
linking environmental protection and human rights.
http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/hubei/yichang/three-gorges-dam-project.htm
Information on statistics, timetable, and in-depth descriptions of
the Three Gorges Dam construction.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/asia/july-dec97/gorges_10-8.html
Transcripts from a news report during the earlier stages of the dam’s
construction.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/yangtze/yangtze.htm
Article on the Three Gorges Dam construction.
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