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Three Gorges Dam
People’s Daily Online- http://english.people.com.cn/zhuanti/Zhuanti_48.shtml
Chinese Embassy- http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/zt/sxgc/default.htm
PBS- http://www.pbs.org/itvs/greatwall/story.html
International Rivers Network- http://www.irn.org/programs/threeg/
PREPARATORY QUESTIONS
1. For what purposes are dams constructed?
2. How big are dams? Where are the largest dams and reservoirs?
3. What are the environmental requirements (e.g. geology, location) for building a dam?
4. What is the history of the construction of ‘big dams’ (those over 100 m high)?
5. Referring to water levels in the reservoir and water discharge releases, explain how dams
operate.
6. What are the (upstream and downstream) effects of dam construction on:
a.
the hydrology of the river?
b. the geomorphology and sedimentology of the river?
c.
the water quality and ecology of the river?
7. Once constructed, what are the (upstream and downstream) effects of a dam operation
on:
a.
the hydrology of the river?
b. the geomorphology and sedimentology of the river?
c.
the water quality and ecology of the river?
8. Do all dams prevent floods?
9. What are the socio-economic impacts of dams, particularly in Developing countries?
Who are the ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ and why?
10. What are the recent trends in dam construction?
Set against the backdrop of China's stunning Three
Gorges region, GREAT WALL ACROSS THE
YANGTZE tells the story of a legendary river that
today faces its greatest challenge. In 1994, the
People's Republic of China ordered the damming of
the Yangtze with a massive wall of concrete and
steel - a 15-year project that will create the world's
largest dam and hydroelectric power plant.
Shooting without government authorization, filmmaker Ellen Perry penetrates the heartland
of China to uncover the unique heritage and beauty of this great river and to understand the
profound changes the dam will bring to China's people.
The film ushers viewers to the stunning Three Gorges region
where a complex tale of China's quest for modernization unfolds.
Using archival footage and expert engineering testimony, GREAT
WALL examines the government's case for the massive dam
before investigating the monumental impact it will have on the
people, the environment and the priceless archeological sites of
the region.
To China's leaders, the Three Gorges dam will propel the nation's economy into the 21st
century. The project promises significant power generation along with improved flood control
and safer navigation.
But it will also turn riverbank cities into freshwater Atlantises, forcing over a million people to
leave their homes forever.
GREAT WALL takes the audience to ground zero of the largest peacetime evacuation in
history. Frustrated and feeling powerless, the people facing relocation complain about their
fate. One tells of corrupt local officials who seek to line their pockets with compensation cash
meant for the farmers.
Dai Qing
In a daring interview, journalist Dai Qing sends a portentous
warning to government officials who have largely ignored the
mounting tensions in the Three Gorges area. She also reveals a
critical link between the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown and
the government's parallel effort to eliminate opposition to the dam
- an effort that led to her 10-month imprisonment for exposing the
risks behind the project.
As the Yangtze region inhabitants are moved, they must abandon not only their homes and
land, but ancestral burial grounds and temples. With American archeologist Elizabeth ChildsJohnson and the chief of China's recovery effort, Yu Weichao, GREAT WALL explores these
links to China's past. Between 80 and 90 percent of the endangered sites will be buried deep
under water. Chinese archeologists, who cannot question the dam without risking their jobs,
desperately plead for an international effort to save the relics.
Archeological treasures aren't the only things in need of rescue.
GREAT WALL tells the story of QiQi, China's only captive
freshwater dolphin, whose endangered Yangtze River brethren
face certain doom when the dam is built.
Meanwhile engineers debate the technical challenges of the
QiQi the Baiji Dolphin project. Have the Chinese engineers solved the problem of
sediment build-up, or will the reservoir become choked with mud
as the years pass? Even if dire scenarios fail to materialize, a slight miscalculation in
sediment treatment could create financial disaster.
To many critics, the real motive behind the dam extends beyond the official line. They
believe government leaders have cast the dam as a symbol of China's emergence as a
major technological and economic superpower. The critics say that from the government's
perspective, the dam must be completed as a matter of national honor. But will saving face
condemn China to fiscal and ecological catastrophe? Each day that the project moves
forward, turning back becomes more costly and politically risky.