Case Study on The Three Gorges Dam in China

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Geography Coursework

The Three Gorges Dam

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Chris Stanley 11IRW

Candidate Number 2527

25th January 2007

Introduction

The Three Gorges Dam project, presently being built on the Chinese River Yangtze and it is know to be the world's largest dam and one of the most controversial public works of modern times. The proposed 2.3km long by 185m tall, concrete hydroelectric dam is to cross the river around 400km west of the city of Wuhan. The dam will create a huge reservoir behind it 660km long stretching within the three gorges behind it and allow for the regulation of water west of the Dam. The Three Gorges Project is speculated to be completed by 2008, one year ahead of previous predicted schedule.

Map of the River Yangtze

History

Damming the Yangtze River was first proposed in 1919 by the founder of the Republic of China in order to protect the river communities from the erratic flooding caused by the river that caused a huge amount of destruction and death; however the poor economic state of the country at the time delayed the process. A later communist leader