Travel Guide - The Great Dam of China

In a land that conceived the Great Wall, China’s current leaders are continuing a long Chinese tradition of marshalling manpower and resources into colossal and audacious projects. On 1 June 2003, 19 of the 22 sluice gates of the Three Gorges Dam Yangtze River tour were closed for the first time, and the water level behind the dam rapidly rose to 135 metres (440ft). With the maximum depth attained in 2009, the celebrated Three Gorges have become some 175 metres (575ft) less impressive.

A long-running vision

First visualised by Sun Yatsen in 1919 for its huge power-generating capability, the scheme was shelved for four decades until championed by Mao Zedong in the late 1950s. The disastrous economic consequences of the Great Leap Forward followed by the chaos of the Cultural Revolution again mothballed the project. Strongly advocated by former Premier Li Peng, the National People’s Congress ratified construction of the dam in 1992.

The Chinese Communist Party loves grandiose schemes. But the dam is more than a symbol of political power, and the ambitious endeavour has several pragmatic aims. Supporters argue that the devastating floods that have plagued the Chang Jiang region will be controlled, river-shipping tonnage will increase by 400 percent and the dam will generate enough power to illuminate half of China China travel deals.

Pros and cons

But the scheme has had many critics, who have argued that as well as destroying many sites of archaeological interest and damaging areas of scenic beauty, the dam would not even be an efficient way to generate power. Substantial silting would reduce its effectiveness at averting floods, the dam would interrupt navigation, and rival forms of power production would render the dam obsolete. Some of these claims have faded from the public agenda, but critics still oppose the dam on environmental grounds, despite the Chinese government’s assertions that all is well.

Although allegations in some quarters that the dam had somehow triggered the Sichuan earthquake in 2008 have been widely dismissed (the dam was 700km/435 miles) from the epicentre), the wisdom of building the world’s largest hydro-electric project in an earthquake zone continues to be questioned. Now that the dam and reservoir have been in operation for some time, its effects on the local area are beginning to be felt, and the signs are worrying. The Mayor of Chongqing claims that the banks of the reservoir have collapsed in scores of places, and that cracks have appeared in houses in the city top 10 China tour packages. It is also considered likely that the 660-km (410-mile) reservoir behind the dam will become highly polluted as cities and industries discharge waste into it, causing untold damage to the river’s ecosystem.

The dam’s construction has involved the relocation of close to 1.5 million people, and the financial cost has been enormous. Time will tell if it is to be regarded as a milestone of engineering and an efficient energy source or a costly and embarrassing environmental disaster.

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