Three Gorgesgorges, China

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The Three Gorges Dam, on which preliminary construction began in 1993, was the largest engineering project in China. Upon its completion, scheduled for 2009, it would be the largest dam in the world and generate as much hydroelectricity as that produced by 15 coal-burning power stations. The dam, designed to span the Chang Jiang (Yangtze River) just west of the city of Yichang in Hubei province, would also create an immense deep-water reservoir about 600 km (about 400 mi) long that would allow oceangoing 10,000-ton freighters to navigate 2,250 km (1,400 mi) inland from the East China Sea to the city of Chongqing.

First discussed in the 1920s by Chinese Nationalist Party leaders, the idea for the Three Gorges Dam was given new impetus in 1953 when Mao Zedong ordered feasibility studies of a number of sites. Detailed planning for the project began in 1955. Although it would control disastrous flooding along the Chang Jiang, facilitate inland trade, and provide much-needed power for central China, the dam was not without its detractors. Criticisms of the Three Gorges project began as soon as the plans were proposed and continued to the present. Key problems included the danger of dam collapse, the displacement of some 1.2 million people (critics use a figure of 1.9 million) living in nearly 500 cities, towns, and villages along the river, and the destruction of magnificent scenery and countless rare architectural and archaeological sites. There were also fears that human and industrial waste from Chongqing and other cities would pollute the reservoir and even that the huge amount of water impounded in the reservoir could trigger an earthquake. In addition, the project, first estimated at $11 billion, could end up costing $50 billion or more.

Because of these problems, work on the Three Gorges Dam was delayed for...

gorge enclosing one section of the Huang He (Yellow River) in western Henan province, eastern China. The gorge is the site of a large dam and hydroelectric installation.

The gorge is some 20 miles (30 km) east of the city of Sanmenxia. At the gorge the Huang He narrows to flow between steep cliffs, and the current is further impeded by two rocky islands—Gui and Shen—which divide the stream into three channels, known as the Gate of Ghosts (Gui Men), the Gate of the Spirits (Shen Men), and the Gate of Man (Ren Men). Below these the river is somewhat obstructed by three smaller islands—Dizhu Rock, Zhanggongshi Island, and Shuzhuang Terrace—the last two being connected by extensive sandbanks on the northeast bank below the rapids. The Sanmen Gorge is the point at which the Huang He descends into the North China Plain, where it becomes a slow-moving and meandering river.

From early times this difficult passage, known as Dizhu, has constituted the principal obstacle to navigation on the Huang He. Of the three channels, only the Gate of Man on the eastern bank was normally passable by ships, while the Gate of Ghosts was completely impassable. Under the Former Han dynasty (206 bc–ad 8)—when the imperial capital was at Chang’an (near present-day Xi’an) in Shaanxi province on the Wei River—various attempts were made to widen the channel and thus permit river traffic to pass from the grain-rich North China Plain westward to the capital, but all of these efforts ended in failure.

During the Tang dynasty (618–907), when Chang’an once again was the capital of a united empire, it became even more important to overcome the obstacles. During the late 7th and...

Aspects of this topic are discussed in the following places at Britannica.

Aspects of this topic are discussed in the following places at Britannica.