The Three Gorges Dam – Sandouping, Hubei Province

Three Gorges Dam publicity photo – looks lovely!

The Three Gorges Dam is the largest construction project in China since the Great Wall, 2500 years ago.

A dam across the Yangtze was first envisioned by Dr Sun Yat-Sen in 1919 but work didn’t start until 1994 and was completed in May 2012.

The reality – Three Gorges Dam from the waterside

The dam cost nearly 150 billion yuan (US$20bn), roughly split between construction and relocating displaced residents.

The government hailed the construction of the dam as a major engineering, social and economic success. They also claimed it was environmentally progressive as the hydroelectric power would curbs China’s rising greenhouse gas emissions.

Others claimed it was an environmental disaster at the 600km long reservoir raised the water level over 90m and flooded 1,300 known archaeological sites. A few of these sites were moved above the water line, but many undiscovered sites are now likely lost forever.

Three Gorges Dam Visitor Area – note the spectacular parking on the left

Visiting the Three Gorges Dam

There’s a large tourist infrastructure round the site of the dam. People are brought in by the bus load to marvel at the wonder(/what became of their village).

Approaching the area by car you’re required to transfer to a coach to avoid car bombings. Whilst explaining this, the security guards openly suggest that a small bribe would allow drivers to take their cars through unhindered.

Entrance was really quite expensive, and you have to pay extra to use the mandatory coach, so if there are 4 or more people it would be cheaper to pay the bribe.

Our cautious driver didn’t entertain paying a bribe, so took the coach a pointlessly  short distance to a large car park. The visitor entrance to the Three Gorges experience has the clean white-tiled lines of an 80’s airport terminal.

A very quiet Three Gorges Dam visitor entrance

Once inside you’re not really allowed to walk anywhere. Escalators take you up and down hills, trolleys shuttle visitors along any flat ground and the ill-mannered crowd shove you away from any hope of lining up a decent photograph.

Once through the visitor entrance, push your way onto the escalator

At the top of the hill is a small garden that overlooks the site. We visited on a pale grey, overcast day that obscured the view over the pale grey concrete dam.

Everybody was keen to get a photo with the column. Nobody knew why.

Down below are the locks to allow passage for the Yangtze cruise ships. Either side of the locks are small gardens – the only splash of colour in the otherwise drab vicinity.

Gardens to appease the cruise passengers

The best view we found of the dam was from ground level, at point 185. This is reached by a short walk from the locks, which is quicker than queuing to take the electric trolleys.

There aren’t many toilets on site. Photo unrelated.

The opposite bank has a small museum about the project, which again glosses over any concerns during construction.

There doesn’t seem to be any way of getting out on the dam, probably due to security concerns. This may not be a bad thing as within days of the reservoir being flooded, engineers discovered around 80 cracks in the main dam.

Overall, unless you’ve a particular interest in cranes ,and it’s a much clearer day, it’s not really a recommended day out. Far better to take one of the Yangtze cruises from Chongqing and just pass through what’s left of the beautiful gorges.

All those cranes definitely indicate it’s completed.

Hopefully related posts:

Ma la tang : the numbing, spicy, super-hot dish – Enshi, Hubei Province Dafo, the Leshan Giant Buddha – Sichuan Province The Great Wall under water – Xifengkou, Hebei Province Xumi Mountain Grottoes – Guyuan, Ningxia Province