Photo taken on July 12, 2018 shows water discharging from the Three Gorges Dam, a gigantic hydropower project on the Yangtze River in China. (Xinhua/Wen Zhenxiao)
BEIJING, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Following are several facts about China's Three Gorges project, the largest hydropower project in the world. Get a close look at it and you'll definitely be impressed by its majesty which truly shows the indomitable spirit of human.
Aerial photo taken on April 8, 2019 shows the scenery of Zigui port, which is located at the upper reaches of the Three Gorges Dam, in Zigui county, central China's Hubei Province. (Xinhua/Zheng Jiayu)
An Unprecedented Dam Project
The Three Gorges project on the Yangtze River in central China's Hubei Province is a multi-functional water control system consisting of a dam stretching 2,309 meters long and 185 meters high, 32 hydropower turbo-generators, a five-tier ship lock and a ship lift.
A ship sails in the Wuxia Gorge, one of the Three Gorges on the Yangtze River, in Wushan County, southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, March 26, 2019. (Xinhua/Wang Quanchao)
The project, which began in December 1994 and cost over 200 billion yuan (about 28.2 billion U.S. dollars), controls flooding, generates electricity and adjusts shipping capacity on the river.
The gigantic dam formed a 600 km long reservoir extending from the city of Chongqing to Yichang. Some 1.3 million people were relocated to make way for the project.
Aerial photo taken on Dec. 21, 2018 shows the Three Gorges Dam, a hydropower project on the Yangtze River, in Zigui County of Yichang City, central China's Hubei Province. (Xinhua/Wang Gang)
Flood Control
In the 2,000 years between the Han and Qing dynasties, the Yangtze River was the scene of more than 200 major and minor floods. Four major floods occurred in the regions in the 20th century, with one of the severest disasters happening in 1998 killing 1,526 people.
Photo taken on July 5, 2018 shows water discharging from the Three Gorges Dam, a gigantic hydropower project on the Yangtze River, in central China's Hubei Province. (Xinhua/Zheng Jiayu)
The 185-meter-high dam is able to back up a normal water level of 175 meters, with a total reservoir storage capacity of 39.3 billion cubic meters.
The dam's reservoir stores flood waters in the summer and releases the water in the dry season to ease droughts, particularly in downstream rice-growing areas.
Cargo vessels enter the five-tier ship lock at the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River, April 6, 2018. (Xinhua/Zheng Jiayu)
Power Generation
Starting from July 2012, the Three Gorges Dam began working at full capacity as the last of its 32 large turbine generators was put into operation, realizing a combined generating capacity of 22.5 million kW.■
