Three Gorges Dam Project.

This thing was INCREDIBLE. I was actually amazed by this thing. It was huge. It cost just under 25 billion dollars to build and will be finished by 2011 (It started in 1994). The project was conceived by Dr. Sun Yat-Sen (remember him from Nanjing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Yat-sen ) in 1919. It is a Hydroelectricity generation and distributer which means it can produce and sell the power….(think the Hoover dam, it sales its power to Vegas). In just a few years, the dam will have sold enough power, that it will pay for it’s self. I am talking only in about 5 YEARS!! 25 BILLION DOLLARS! It will supply power for 3% of China’s population.

The shiplocks was the coolest part. Since the dam creates the river higher on one side and lower on the back side….the ships need to pass through them. So what happens, the huge ships go into the first lock. The water raises (or lowers depending on the direction it’s heading). As soon as it is level with the next lock, the doors open and the ship goes to the second lock. There are 5 all together. It takes 3 hours to go through all 5. They are in the process of designing a ship “elevator” for smaller boats.

The size of this project is just unbelievable. This is definitely a highlight of my trip. However it was short-lived cause after that, we drove to the train station for our first overnight train with the peeps.

BTW...my photos are not fuzzy....it all the pollution in the air!