Qype: Three Gorges Dam in Yichang

Yichang

This is the big one. The world’s largest civil engineering project, the earth’s biggest dam, the greatest feat of hydroelectric endeavor in human history, yes, it’s the three gorges dam.

I had waited years to see this monster, and was not disappointed, it really is that big. Over 2km in width, and containing around 40 cubic km of water, generating over 22.5MW of power (around 3% of China’s total consumption!), it’s the kind of project that could only be built here. Casualties include quite a lot of people who had to move house, and the Yangtze river dolphin which hasn’t been seen since, but I guess in the grand scheme of things, this is doing quite a lot to prevent global warming.

Well worth a trip!

Check out my review of Three Gorges Dam - I am filchambers - on Qype