The Yangtze River was formed from the movement of the earth's crust some 40 million years ago. It is the world's third largest river after the Amazon and the Nile. China has relied largely on the Yangtze River for thousands of years. Just the same, people have feared the Yangtze for thousands of years. It has long brought frequent and disastrous floods to downstream residents. It has killed hundreds of thousands of Yangtze dwellers. The river has been part of these people's lives, whether good or bad, since the beginning of times.

For centuries, floods have drastically effected the people along the Yangtze. This century alone, floods have killed over 300,000 people. The flood of 1998 alone was so cataclysmic that not only did it kill people, but almost drowned China's economy. In August of 19

The Three Gorges Dam will be capable of creating 18.2 million kilowatts of electricity. That is enough power to run a city ten times the size of Los Angeles. Thus, making it the largest power plant in the world.

With the scheduled completion of the Three Gorges Dam by the year 2009, the People's Republic of China will have completed the biggest, most expensive, and perhaps the most hazardous hydroelectric project in world history. The 1.3-mile-long, 610-foot-high dam will create a reservoir as long as Lake Superior. It will twist 385 miles through the walls of the canyons, all the way from the dam site near Yichang upriver to the large city of Chongqing. The reservoir's 10.4 trillion gallons of water will force almost two million valley residents to abandon their ancestral homes and terraced farmlands. The people from 13 cities, hundreds of villages, 955 business enterprises and factory towns will have to evacuate 115,000 acres of the richest land along the river basin and relocate in unknown, often inhospitable territory with lower living standards where the local people resent them.

The dam is designed to protect the area down river from flooding; yet this poses a problem in the case of the largest floods as the water levels and speeds will change drastically. The area upstream will also be subject to changes during large floods as water levels back upstream and rise; presenting difficulties to the new cities and cliffs.

Concerns have also arisen over the dam's durability during an earthquake. This topic arises particularly because the dam location is over a fault line; the very fault line that created the three gorges to begin with. It is feared that the increased weight of the reservoir might trigger another earthquake that could upset the dam and create an unimaginable disaster.

The Three Gorges Dam will favorably impact the enviro

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Approximate Word count = 1257
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)