The Three Gorges Dam
with Visitor Center and Park
skip to Shanghai Street Scenes
En route to tour the Three Gorges Dam
The Three Gorges Dam is nearly complete, after 10 years of construction. It was built for power generation, improving ship navigation on the river, and most importantly for flood control. In the 20th century, over 100,000,000 people lost their lives in floods on the Yangtze. In Spring of 2007, the dam project had its first test with heavy rainfall. The river flow was adjusted at the dam to accomodate the excess inflow of water. There was NO loss of life. The Dam visitor center has an attractive park and museum.
Downstream ship locks -- there are five levels of locks. It takes only 3 hours for a ship to traverse them.
Views from upstream side. The orange cranes control the sluice gates.
View from the downstream side
Visitor Center Museum
Monument to the "Trackers", who in past days earned their living hauling ships upstream through the rapids of the Three Gorges
Yangtze watershed map
Park at the Visitor Center
