The Three Gorges Dam: History, Problems and Alternatives
             Before 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 lock systems, as well as the world's largest shiplifts (Fu, 1996).
             The project will also cause some of the most egregious environmental and social effects ever: It will flood 30,000 hectares of prime agricultural land in a country where land is the most valuable resource; it will cause the forcible resettlement of upward of 1.9 million people; it will forever destroy countless cultural antiquities and historical sites; and it will further threaten many endangered species, some already facing extinction (Quing).
             Dam Crest -------------------------------------------Dam Length -----------------------------------------Reservoir FunctionsNormal Pool level -----------------------------------Flood Control Level ---------------------------------Total...