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| The
full name of Three Gorges project is Three Gorges multipurpose
water control project. The whole project includes a concrete
gravitational dam, a sluice gate, a latter dike hydroelectric
power station, a perpetual navigation ship lock and a
ship lift. The building of the project is made up of three
parts the dam, the factory building and opening-navigation
building .The top of the dam is 3035 meters long and 185
meters nigh. There're 26 machines, 14 on the left and
12 on the right. A small wheel generating set has a front
row capacity of 700,000kws. The total installed capacity
is 1,820 kW/h. Annual generated energy reaches 84.7 billion
kW/H. The navigation building locates at the left bank,
including a double -lined and five -package consecutive
ship lock and a first -rate vertical ship -lift. |
Three
Gorges project will last for 18 years of three periods.
The First phase (1992-1997) lasted for five years.
Besides the preparation work, the chief project
included first period cofferdam, the beginning of
the diversion channel, a concrete longitudinal cofferdam
and a temporary ship lock (120 meters high), the
beginning of a left bank perpetual ship lock, a
lift and part of stone dam at the left bank.
Now the first phase has been finished after the
Yangtze River was dammed in November 1997.The water
level has been raised to 88 meters from the original
68 meters. |
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| ¡úThe
Three Groges Dam Project |
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| The
finished diversion channel can support the maximum
discharge of 2,000 cubic meter per second. Therefore,
the water transportation and shipping on the Yangtze
River wouldn't be affected a lot. It's guaranteed
that navigation is smooth during the building period.
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The second phase will last for six gears (1998--2003).
The major task is to build the second period of cofferdam
and equipment and the settling of the left bank station
.At the same time, a perpetual special grade ship lock
and the construction of the ship lift are to be continued
and be scheduled to finish. In June 2003, the retained
water in the dam would be raised to 35 meters high and
be stretched into WanXan City along the Yangtze River.
As a result of this, ZhangFei Temple would be inundated
and water would become steady and smooth, so that those
entire dangerous shoals could never be seen again and
there would be no difference between upstream and downstream
during the inner part of the River. The perpetual Navigation
would be accomplished and be put into practice; the first
machine unit on the left begins to generate electricity
in the same year.
The six -year Third phase (2003 -2009) is planed to continue
the right -back dam and the station. Besides, all the
machine sets are to be fixed. On the occasion, Three Gorges
Reservoir would be a smooth -leveled and valley -like
reservoir with the length of 600 kilometers, the width
of 200 meters and the area of 1000km2. The average depth
of the water would increase 10 to 100 meters than now
.The normal retaining water level is 175 meters above
sea level in winter; while on the account of resisting
blood in summer, the water lever is approximately 145
meters above sea level. After retaining, the front dam
water level is to be raised about 100 meters. Thus some
landscapes and places of interests would be under the
influence. When the second project is over, ZhangFei Temple
would be flooded; in the year of 2006, the water would
be increased to 156 meters and QuYuan Temple in Zigui
would be submerged; in 2009, the dam is to be completed.
Three yeas later, that's 2012, the final water level would
reach 175 meters high. The actual raising of water is
110 meters. The back water would trace back 650 kilometers
to the boundaries of Chongqing .The existing tourist spots
can be preserved till the end of the second phase in 2003.
After the completion of the whole project in 2009, 39
man-made and natural landscapes in the region would be
submerged entirely or partly, taking up 13% of all the
landscapes along the reservoir region. Because of their
relative high elevation, two regions, Wu Gorge and Qutang
Gorge, just have a increasing of water level of 80 meters.
Moreover, the mountain series and cliffs in both banks
posses an elevation of hundreds meters or even thousands.
Except part of ancient plank roads and dissolved holes,
others wouldn't have a great change. In the west sector
of XiLing Gorge Region, only BingShuBaoJian Gorge and
NiuGanMaFei Gorge would be submerged. However, Yellow
Gorge and Light Shadow Gorge in eastern sector between
the two dams would still exist. So along the famous Three
Gorges, Goddess peak would still stand gracefully and
Kui Gate still be grand. Although a few of the scenes
would disappear, about a hundred new landscapes would
emerge owing to the raising of backwater. BaiDi City and
Shibaozai would become BaiDi Island and ShiBao Island
respectively. Many branches of Changjiang River from a
variety of tourist resources is waiting for us to cultivate
and utilize. Though the Yangtze River grand dam was damned,
the landscapes are still charming. Afterwards, the cruise
ships along the routine will be built lager and will be
more smooth and comfortable. The focus of the tourism
will change, the tour lines will be varied and the present
structure will take a new look. Perhaps people will not
be worried about the merits or demerits of the upstream
and the downstream, nor will cruise company cover the
price difference in two situation .The Three Gorges dam
centered golden tourist region will become a splendid
shining star on the Yangtze River.
Why to build Three Gorges Dam |
| In
1992, the NPC (National People's congress) approved
the construction of the Three gorges project: 664
abstentions, 25 votes absent, 177 votes against
and 1.767 votes for (the two thirds of the total).
Then the widespread and profound 40-year discussion
of whether to start the project or not had finally
come up with a conclusion. It brought the whole
world to more attention in no time: from the proposal
by SunZhangshan to the attention by MaoZeDong, from
the investigation in 40's by J. L savage, the noted
American expert on dam-building to the demonstration
in 90's in china. The discussion about it is really
rare in world in the long time, large scale and
deep degree. |
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| ¡úThe
Three Gorges Dam-Zhongbaodao Lslet |
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| What's
the real point of the Three Gorges project? First
comes the flood control. The Yangtze River is the
most dangerous river in the world. Its tremendous
drop and discharge hold abundant water resources
in store. However, it is also like a uncontrollable
runaway horse, and is in flood almost each year,
which makes it the badly stricken area, especially
around the middle and lower reaches. According to
the historical record, for 2.000 years between Han
Dynasty and the end of Qing Dynasty, the Yangtze
River had flooded 214 times. Since the last century,
there have been three catastrophic foods. Among
them two floods in 1931 and 1935 inundated respectively
the land in 50,900,000 Mu and in 22,640,000 Mu,
and brought 145000 and 142000 people to death. In
1954, despite of the safeguard of Jing River Dam
and WuHan urban district, the area of inundated
land still came to 47,550,000 Mu, the stricken population
came to 18,880,000 including 30,000 dead people,
and the railway service between Beijing and Gangzhou
had been interrupted for l00 days. The direct amount
of loss got to 10,000,000,000 Yuan and the indirect
one was hard to estimate. For 40 years the Chinese
government has devoted substantial manpower and
material resources to the construction of flood
controlling, such as reinforcing the embankment
of Yangtze River, setting up the flood diversion
and storage area, building the reservoirs beside
the tributary, transforming the river course and
so on. Nevertheless the situation is still very
severe. The ability of discharging of river course
only can provide the safety against the flood that
may break out once 10 to 20 years. Once beyond the
limit, the huge loss of personal lives and property
will strike the area at any time with very severe
effects. At present, the middle and lower reaches
of Yangtze River have been the fast-developing economic
area. Outbreak of catastrophic flood and the great
huge losses it brings out will put the process of
national economic construction in a mess .The catastrophic
floods are the hidden trouble both to the government
and to the public, and should be prevented basically
as soon as possible. |
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