Dam the Yangtze

The Three Gorges dam project has been a dream for the Chinese leadership since Liberation in 1949. Harnessing the power of the mighty Yangtze River as it rushes through the gorges can help satiate China's appetite for energy as well as generate millions in income for provincial and central government coffers. At 607 feet high and more than 1 mi wide, the dam will produce enough electricity to supply the factories and cities of both the developed east and the underdeveloped heartland, hopefully putting an end to the rampant blackouts that threaten to choke China's economic revolution. The dam, when completed in 2009, will be the largest ever constructed, the cornerstone for the Communist Party's development program, and an international symbol of China's global power status. The reservoir created by the dam will increase Chongqing's ability to send freight down the Yangtze River and provide critical flood control for long-suffering downstream cities like Wuhan.

Since construction began, however, critics have railed against a project they consider a poorly planned attempt to impress the rest of the planet while destroying land, homes, and the history of a vast swath of China. Costs are difficult to assess in China, but estimates have been put as high as $75 billio. Rampant corruption has led to accusations of "tofu engineering," a serious allegation considering the millions of lives at stake if the dam were to collapse.

The project has been vilified by environmentalists worldwide. The reservoir, though instrumental in jump-starting hinterland exports to the outside world, will also back up the muddy Yangtze, potentially silting up the dam and thereby reducing electricity output. A more sinister possibility is the creation of a 300-mi long-cesspool, as the notoriously filthy and toxic towns of central China pour their wastes into a stagnant river.

The dam has also created a swarming diaspora of migrant workers and displaced persons who have swelled the nearby cities of Wuhan, Chongqing, Xi'an, and other cities as far away as Lanzhou and Urumqi. The submergence of entire towns and villages has coincided with the inundation of countless relics and artifacts from the cradle of Chinese civilization. The Three Gorges area is the site of some of the most famous battles of the Three Kingdoms period and has cliff-side tombs dating back to the dawn of civilization as we know it.

Regardless of the pitfalls and dangers, the Chinese are going through with their great project and banking that the benefits will outweigh the costs. Hopefully the dam will be a defiant success in the face of a wall of skepticism.