Yangtze River project
The Three Gorges Dam: History, Problems and AlternativesBefore 1949, there were virtually no water projects in China. However, in the ensuing years, and the "Great Leap Forward" (1958-1960), the Chinese Communist Party heavily promoted dam and reservoir building as a part of their massive public campaigns. (N.B.: The Great leap was a political campaign boasting China's economic development). During this time, Chinese leaders thought that by 1972 hydropower would produce more than half of the country's power (Oksenberg). In 1992, the ruling National People's Party approved the construction of the Three Gorges Dam, to be built across the Yangtze River. The dam will be the largest in the world when completed in 2009. The soon to be "ninth wonder of the world" will stand at a massive one hundred and eighty-five (185) meters high, and almost two kilometers across, forming a six hundred kilometer reservoir, and will be visible with the naked eye from space. The Dam is set to usher in a new age for technology and will require machinery of unparalleled complexity. It will require twenty-six (26) six hundred and eighty megawatts (680 MW) turbines, twin five stage lo
In addition, the dam will create bays off the main reservoir at various sites. From there, the river widens and meanders across southern China's vast, fertile plains to the East China Sea at Shanghai (Ryder and Barber, 1993). Sichuan province officials also objected to the construction since Sichuan, located upstream, would shoulder most of the costs while downstream Hubei province would receive most of the benefits. 31, a level indicating moderate pollution. The two floods which occurred in 1931 and in 1935 submerged 50, 960, 000 mu (340, 000 hectares) and 22, 460, 000 mu (150, 000 hectares) of farmland respectively, with a loss of 145, 500 people in the first, and 142, 000 in the other. Problems associating with the Three Gorges Dam ProjectThe Three Gorges Dam has numerous potential negative effects, both to the environment and to humans. Increased Tectonic Activity: Being that the dam is being built on a fault line, scientists believe that the shear weight of the dam and the stored water could trigger and earthquake. The power produced by the dam, will be equivalent to that of eighteen (18) nuclear power stations or approximately fifty (50) million tons of coal. Environmentalists at home and abroad began to protest more vociferously.
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Acceptance Essays
