Three Gorges Dam

The Three Gorges Dam is the world’s largest and grandest water conservancy project. Many parts of it have broken through the world record. The effectiveness of water control is also most notable in the world. The Three Gorges Dam does well in controlling flooding from the upper reaches of Yangtze River. It enhances the capacity of flood fighting. The Three Gorges Dam is an unparalleled power plant in the world nowadays. It is also used for shipping, tourism and ecological protection, environmental purification, irrigation and south-to-north water transfer.

After the dam’s completion, a large sized reservoir, actually 600 kilometers in length, is seen. It is a rare to see scene on our planet. There were four periods to accumulate water in the Three Gorges Area. The first time the water was gone up 10 to 75 meters from the original level after cutting off the flowing of Yangtze River on November 8, 1997, no affect to all the sightseeing spots at that time. The level went up to 135 meters after the completion of second phrase project. Zhangfei Temple had been moved to other place but other tourist attractions were not affected. In 2006, the water was up again to 156 meters, rebuilding was needed for the tall gate of Qu Yuan Ancestral Temple. The whole Three Gorges Dam Project will be completed in 2009, Yangtze River will up to 175 meters from its original level, so that some of the precious stone carvings are needed to move, and Shibaozhai Village’s gate will be in 1.5-meter-deep water. It will be very interesting to see the Jade-seal Hill in the village that becomes a peak standing on the water.

Three Gorges Dam

As the grand reservoir has made the shipping conditions better on the river, travelers can easily and quickly to reach sightseeing spots around the Three Gorges area, such as the scenic Small Three Gorges and Shennong Stream.

The dedicated highway for the Three Gorges Project opened to service in 1996 with investment about 1 billion RMB. Forty percent of the 29-kilometer-long highway is bridges and tunnels, which they are counted 34 and 5 respectively. The longest tunnel is the Wooden Fish Trough, which is 3.6 kilometers. It had been the longest highway tunnel in China in 1990s. The Three Gorges Highway has been regarded as China’s highway museum.

Mt. Old Man Mao (毛公山, Mao Gong Shan) interestingly looks like the recumbent statue of Chairman Mao Zedong. The mountain consists of natural white stones.

Three Gorges Dam exhibition

The Office and Living Zone in the Three Gorges Area is with the four-star Three Gorges Dam Project Hotel, Exhibition of the Three Gorges Dam Project, Project Command Center, Environmental Park and a modernized residential community. In the future, the Three Gorges Area will become a National Forest Park, which combines the natural ecology and modernized engineering.

The Exhibition of the Three Gorges Dam Project was opened in 1992 with whole coverage of 6,600 square meters. The exhibition comprises the special zones of the construction of the Three Gorges Dam, environmental protection, emigration, advancement of science and technology, power production, calligraphy and painting as well as photography.

Transportation

From Yichang, you may take bus route No. 3, 4, 9, 21 or 100, which will as far as opposite Pinghu Hotel (平湖大酒店), 80 Dongshan Avenue (东山大道), and then transfer to air-conditioned tour coach.

Take bus No. 4, 10, 21, 100 or 101 to get off at Ye Ming Zhu Zhuang Pan (Night Pearl), transfer to Three Gorges Dam Area Bus No. 8 to Sixth Sluice, and finally change to tourism circular bus to visit the dam. The tourism circular bus is in 20 minutes intervals. There are also electronic buses available for travel in the Flow Cutting off Area.

Admission: 105 RMB