Development

Timeline

-1919 suggested 

*Suggested by Sun Yat-sen 

*controversial from the start

-1994 construction began

-2003, June, second phase completed

-2006 construction completed

-2011 expected to start generating power

Change

Problems:

-corruption

-high costs

-technological problems

-human rights violations

-resettlement difficulties

-environmental impacts are bad and will likely get worse

resources

E-Gram From Beijing
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/opensecrets/3Gorges1.pdf
China 'to float Three Gorges dam'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/2287841.stm
China's costly dam project
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1774001.stm
Three Gorges Dam 

http://www.worldbookonline.com/student/article?id=ar556110&st=three%20gorges%20dam%20china
Three Gorges Dam 

http://find.galegroup.com/srcx/infomark.do?&contentSet=GSRC&type=retrieve&tabID=T001&prodId=SRC-1&docId=EJ2103202505&source=gale&srcprod=SRCG&userGroupName=tlc139095058&version=1.0
Three Gorges project: chance and challenge
http://find.galegroup.com/srcx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T002&prodId=SRC-1&docId=A116670436&source=gale&srcprod=SRCG&userGroupName=tlc139095058&version=1.0
Pictures:
http://www.shanghai-gas.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/three_gorges_dam.jpg

http://www.drben.net/files/China/Source_Materials/China_Politics/First_Republic/Portrait-SunYatSenQT.jpg

http://www.yangtzeriver.org/threegorges_dam/pic/1.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d8/Three_gorges_dam_annual_power_output.JPG

Impact

Effects on the people:

The Three Gorges Dam has been a controversial topic from day one. One and a half million people have already been relocated and are still in temporary homes. They lost family graves and their land and are now encountering difficulties finding jobs and communities for themselves, partly because China is already so populated.

Archaeologist tell us that over two thousand historically important cites, including remnants of ancient civilizations, were lost when they flooded the lands.

The hope of the dam is that it will save hundreds of human lives a year by controlling the Yangtze floodwater's.

Effects on the environment:

Damming the Yangtze river is having a devastating effect on the environment- and it will only get worse. Wildlife that used to inhabit the now-flooded land are stranded on islands in the middle of the polluted waters. Even the Chinese government has acknowledged the effects on the ecosystems around  the river. 

A surprising concern among scientists-albeit a smaller threat- are earthquakes under the new lake. It has been proposed that the force of the huge amount of collected water creates a new earthquake zone that threatens the entire river and surrounding area.

Effects on the Chinese economy:

If your a critic of this project, by far the easiest target is the spending. The costs went through the roof- and the Chinese government paid it all without hesitation. Over 24 billion dollars for a project with a life expectancy of a mere fifty years. Critics believed that the cost would ruin China's economy. While it obviously didn't, they lost seventy percent of their rice farmland instead.

Effects on the government:

Although the dam is a matter of national pride for the Chinese government, its not putting them in a very good light with the rest of the world. While they see it as the world's biggest dam, an achievement any industrial nation would be proud of, other nations are more concerned with its effectiveness. 

To sum it up, the concerns are (in order of most important) as follows...

1. Current and future effects on the environment
2. Spending
3. Humanitarian issues surrounding relocation and loss of historical monuments

Future

In the future many problems will be solved and made. The river will become very polluted due to the hundreds of factories, mines, waiste dumps, and massive industrial centers upstream. The dam will also displace more than 1.2 million people and a loss of historical sites. The economy will also be affected because of the high cost of constructing and operating the dam. The dam will eventually have twenty-six generators producing much hydroelectric power. The dam will control flooding and improve navigation on the Yangtze river. The International Rivers Organization helps protect the river by monitoring it.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jan/22/wave-tidal-hydropower-water
1.5 million people are needing to be relocated due to the completion of the dam. Pollution is more severe than they expected.

Location

Three Gorges Dam is located on the Yangtze river in China. The Yangtze river is the third largest in the world. The river flows rapdly because of the high mountains at its source. There are many homes and buildings surrounding the area of the dam.

Background

The Three Gorges Dam, located in the town of Sandouping, spans the Yangtze River to provide hydroelectric power and flood control to the growing population in China. With a length of 2,335 meters and a height of 185 meters, The People's Republic of China has built the largest electricity-generating dam in the world.

The Yangtze River is the third largest river in the world. It flows swift and cold from it's source in the high mountains of Qinghai Province and frequently floods, killing hundreds every year. The Three Gorges Dam was built in part to protect the people who live and farm on the banks of the river.

The Chinese government has worked hard since Sun Yat-sen proposed the project in 1919 to raise the funds needed for this massive industrial project (with a current estimated cost of over twenty-four billion dollars, US currency). The project has greatly overblown it's budget, resulting in expressed concern from critics around the world.

But the project has always been controversial. The relocation of people has raised eyebrows for civil rights, but even more concerning are the economic and environmental impacts. The waters are expected to be highly polluted, and many native species are being threatened.

Construction is currently completed, but the hydroelectric power is not expected to be used until 2011. The dam's life expectancy is an estimated fifty years.

For an Annual Power Output graph please visit http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d8/Three_gorges_dam_annual_power_output.JPG

Big Picture

The dam is not expected to meet energy needs but will help major flooding problems. More then a million people are being resettled and there's a huge loss of ecosystems and endangered animals due to the pollution. People can use this issue to understand other locations and similar issues by understanding how this project affected the areas around the dam. They can also see how this issue affected china as a whole.