Sānxiá Dàbà, 240 yuans for a visit.
China needs power, electric power to feed its growth. The solution? To build a huge dam on the Yangzi (Chang Jiang), the most powerful river in China and the 3rd longest one in the world. But the river was not harnessed only for its hydropower: the building of a dam will also help to control floodings that Hubei has been sustaining every season for centuries.
A dam to see
6300 kms long, the Yangzi has its source at the south-east region of Qinghai, borders or goes across the autonomous region of Tibet, 8 innner provinces (Qinghai, Sichuan, Yunnan, Hebei, Hubei, Anhui, Jiangxi and Jiangsu) and the 2 municipalities of Chongqing and Shanghai, where it reaches the East China Sea. The 3 Gorges is the kind of scene you admire on chinese scroll paintings, with abrupt cliffs and deep green water. Kiu Xia, Wu Xia and Xiling Xia (xiá means gorge) compose the scenic spot on almost 110 kms (Xiling Xia is about 80 kms long). Boat cruises attract tourists who come to see the remaining views of the river valleys. At the end of those cruises, the 3 Gorges dam is opened to visitors. For 240 yuans, they can stop on the site and enjoy the panorama from a platform.
Today, the dam is 2 kilometers long and 185 meters high. Formerly announced for 2009, water level will raise up at 175 meters in September this year according to Cao Guangjing, deputy manager of the China Yangtze River Three Gorges Project Development Corporation, owner of the project. The dam was completed in 2006, earlier than scheduled and the entire dam, with its turbines, is expected to be put in use by 2009. The reservoir will store 39 billions cube meters with a covering surface equivalent to the Singapore territory.
Yangzi River Map – source:Lonely Palnet China 2007
No negative impact on tourism resort
The Three Gorges is already a tourism region for its mystic mountains, and tourists continue to especially at Yichang 30 kms downstream from Sandouping. Here is the start of the cruise for the dam and to Chongqing. Since the opening to visitors in 1997, the tourism market has been increasing year by year. In 2007, for the May Day holiday (one of the 3 golden weeks), 66 000 visitors were recorded. In 2006, travel agencies counted about 100 000 visits for the same period and 1,18 millions for the whole year. Today, Xinhua announced that the dam site “attracted a record high of 1.25 million tourist arrivals last year”, including 310 000 foreigners visits.
The inundation of 8000 archeologic and historic sites seems to have no negative impact on tourism as the government of Chongqing Municipality made an investment of 1 billion yuans (US$ 137 millions) last year. “Most of the money (from tourism) will be used to build and renovate docks, roads and other infrastructure in sightseeing areas starting from the second half of this year”, said Tan Xiwei, vice mayor of Chongqing. A marketing plan has been launched on April 2007 to manage and boost the resort in the region.
Economy versus ecology
On the 25th of September last year, authorities admitted that the “project has caused an array of ecological ills,(…). If no preventive measures are taken, the project could lead to catastrophe”, they said. The shore of the reservoir had collapsed in 91 places, about 36 kms along the river and 2000 others “dangerous” sites had been registred. Pollution is not letf apart: Lei Heng-Chun, an expert at Chongqing University, explained that the rise of water level slows down the river flow, and bogs filling with algae and aquatic weeds have appeared at affluents junction. Downstream, the discharge of water from the dam has triggered landslides, and the same ills also occur upstream due to the water level fluctuation.
The polemic formerly began when the Wall Street Journal quoted environmental scientist Weng Lida, secretary general of the Yangtze River Forum, as saying, “We thought of all the possible issues. But the problems are all more serious than we expected.” Weng Xiaofeng, director of the office of the Three Gorges Porject Committee, disclaimed his own statement from the 25th September conference, declaring that the dam’s environmental impact “has been less damaging than feared”, and environmental issues were not as serious as those mentionned in the 1991 government feasibility report. Concerning the pollution the river is developping, no one wants to face responsability: municipalities government blame the growing population and peasants for discharging their litters and fertilizer in the river, and environmental lobbyists charge authorities with useless actions about ecological and human issues. What is truly certain is that neither peasants nor Yangzi dolphins wanted to be replaced by tourists and cargo.
Three gorges Dam project on Wikipedia
The New York Times – Choking on growth Part 4: Three Gorges Dam (November 19, 2007)
China Daily – 2008/01/02 :What the Three Gorges project is all about
China Daily – 2008/01/06 :Tourist arrivals to Three Gorges Dam hit record high
Chinese government’s official web portal: Three Gorges Project
Xinhuanet – 2007/09/26 :China warns of environmental “catastrophe” from Three Gorges Dam
Le Point magazine Special issue about China (2007/12/20-27).
Liberation newspaperLiberation – 2007/11/05 :Les maux des Trois gorges (Ache of Three Gorges)
Video on changes in Three Gorges dam
Report briefly showing the relocating conditions of displaced people
Report briefly explaining the environmental damages of the dam
Lonely Planet: Chine – 7th french edition (2007)
Tags: dam, three gorges, tourism, yangzi