Anthony
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1. Yangtze River Damming Completed ...................................... 50
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Source: Guochen WAN, Ray ZHANG
Summerized by: Fabian FANG
[CND, 11/09/97] The mighty Yangtze River was successfully dammed on Satur-
day in preparation for the Three Gorges Hydroelectric Project, according
to several AFP reports from Yichang, Hubei, Chongqing, and Beijing. As
engineers completed the dumping of 60,000 cubic meters (78,000 cubic yards)
of rockfill and cement into the waterway, the flow of China's largest river
was diverted through a southern canal. Premier LI Peng, a Soviet-trained
engineer and chief backer of the massive Project, declared the closure
completed, while boats on the river sounded horns and the construction
company sent flares into the sky. President JIANG Zemin told the assembled
crowd that "The damming of the Yangtze River is of great political and
economic significance," and "it proves to the whole world the Chinese
people's capability of building the world's first-rate hydroelectric
project."
As the dam project moves toward its completion in the year 2009, an unpre-
cedented 1.2 million people from 20 counties and cities will be displaced
by the submerging of a 632 square-kilometer (253 square-mile) area along
the Yangtze River Valley. When relocation efforts began in 1992, many
local peasants resisted leaving their ancestral homes, saying that they
would rather be buried in water. During the damming ceremony, however,
resettlers were heard speaking of their opportunities for collecting com-
pensation and improving livelihood. In the projected reservoir area
peasants have gladly traded in dirt-floored and mud-walled homes for
spacious concrete houses. Despite their poverty some resettlers have
borrowed heavily in order to build bigger homes. Some villagers can expect
rising incomes as they go into fish farming, but the future is less bright
for those resettled high in the mountains where land is sparse and poor.
Farmers have complained to visiting foreign journalists about official
corruptions in the distribution of compensation funds.
Environmentalists around the world have predicted that rising waters of
the dam project will drown much of the Yangtze Valley's flora and fauna
and some archaeological treasures, and alter the natural habitat of the
endangered white-flag dolphin and Chinese sturgeon. Chinese officials
have defended the massive project from criticism that it would cause
environmental damages. A Xinhua News Agency report claims that the pro-
ject would control flooding and reduce the need to burn highly-polluting
coal. Twenty sewage disposal plants will be built on the upper reaches of
the Yangtze River, addressing concerns that the reservoir would collect
untreated sewage and cause serious water-pollution problems. The govern-
ment has launched a "diversified biological protection program", with
animal reserves and hatching grounds, for the protection of aquatic
species.