Three Gorges Dam
Three Gorges Dam is the world's largest hydropower project. It is located in Sandouping, the middle of Xiling Gorge, Yichang City of Hubei Province. It's about 38 kilometers from Three Gorges Dam to Gezhou Dam. Three Gorges Dam includes two main projects: the main building works and the river diversion works, the total budget is 95.46 billion RMB. On December 14, 1994, the construction work of Three Gorges Dam officially started. On May 20, 2006, the whole construction was finished. Three Gorges Dam met the first flow peak at 65,000 cubic meters per second on July 19, 2010 which is comparable to the flow peak in 1998 (one of the biggest floods on Yangtze River), so it is a big challenge for Three Gorges Dam. Chairman Mao once wrote a poem when he visited Three Gorges for the third time in 1956. The poem goes that "Walls of stone will stand upstream to the west. To hold back Wushan's clouds and rain, till a smooth lake rises in the narrow gorges. The mountain goddess would marvel at a world so changed if she is still there." This poem shows that Chairman Mao believed nature could be shaped to man's purpose. Today, his wish finally turned into a beautiful reality.
When we talk about Three Gorges Dam, we must mention about Three Gorges. Three Gorges is situated in the border of Chongqing, Hubei and Sichuan Province. It spans Chongqing Fengjie, Wushan and Hubei Badong, Zigui and Yichang. It starts from White Emperor City, Fengjie County in the west and ends at Nanjin Pass of Yichang in Hubei Province, with a total length of 192 kilometers. Due to the uplift of Yan Mountain and the cutting by the Yangtze River, Three Gorges came into being. It includes Qutang Gorge, Wu Gorge, Xiling Gorge, Daning River and Xiangxi Stream.
Three Gorges Dam has its unique charm in tourism. Getting to the highest point of Three Gorges Dam - Tanzi Ling Sightseeing Deck, visitors could enjoy the panoramic view of Three Gorges Dam. On the construction site of Three Gorges Dam, the rolling sound of the waves with people's voices and the roar of machines merged into a bustling symphony.
When Three Gorges Dam was completed, a 650 kilometers long artificial lake was formed, stretching from Yichang to Chongqing. Until then, the clear and misty water extending to the distant horizon, a spectacular image of a navigable lake will appear in the world.
