The Three Gorges Dam

三峡大坝的从规划到建成一直争议不断，作者也尝试讨论分析三峡大坝的利弊。

The Three Gorges Dam is located upon the Yangtze River by the town of Sandouping in Yiling District, Yichang, Hubei province, China. This project was started in 1993 and was completed in 2009, going through three stages of construction. The dam is 1.24 miles from bank to bank, 610 feet high. There are “26 turbines with a capacity of 18,200 megawatts that can produce 84 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity a year”. The dam indeed bring huge economic benefits to China, however causes serious environmental and social problems as well. First, the construction of the Three Gorge Dam forces millions of local people to migrate to other places. However, the migrants are compensated poorly and are remaining mired in poverty according to SBS NEWS. Secondly, the dam failed to serve as a tool to control the Yangtze’s regular flooding. In contrast, it has caused flooding fluently in recent years and damaged important archaeological sites and farm lands where are far more fertile than the place migrants are relocated to. According to TIME Magazine’s report, “Some hydrologists say that by trapping silt the dam could actually make downstream riverbanks more vulnerable to flooding”. Thirdly, the river quality of Yangtze River has also been deteriorating rapidly, algae blooms ring steadily and the dammed river is less capable of dispersing pollutions efficiently. With the pollution problem growing serious, even more serious health problems of residents are generated. Another controversy over the dam is that instead of generating economic benefits to China, it will actually result in more silt in Yangtze River and limit the transportation in that river, which in other words will diminish economic benefits., according to CNN. Personally, with all the benefits and damages brought by the Three Gorge Dam, I think the dam in all is a good move for both the international reputation and development. However, the devastating consequences it causes are far more conspicuous and I think considering what the environment and migrants have to suffer, it may not be a successful project.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Gorges_Dam
http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fwp-srv%2Finatl%2Flongterm%2Fyangtze%2Fstories%2Ffacts.htm&date=2011-12-14
http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1671000,00.html
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2013/05/31/decade-controversy-still-surrounds-chinas-three-gorges-dam
http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/1999/china.50/asian.superpower/three.gorges/