China has finished structural construction on the smack-daddy-sized dam that they call the Three Gorges Dam. Some amazing facts on this structure: it is 1.4 miles long, it will generate 22.4 million kilowatts of electricity, it will cost around $25 billion, and 1.13 million people will eventually be moved to make room for the reservoir. This project has really came under some heat for its tremendous financial, environmental, and social costs. I feel sorry for all of those people that have to move away from the villages that they has probably been their ancestry's home for thousands of years. Imagine all the history that will now lay at the bottom of that huge lake. Many have also said that the lake will become heavily polluted from the cities upriver that lack proper sewage treatment. It was interesting to note that Chinese officials had scaled back the great celebration that they had planned for the event; they felt it was best not to celebrate too much considering a lot of people in the countryside are getting upset by their growing poverty and increasing richness of the urban areas. The Discovery Channel has a great documentary on the project that they show often; I would recommend it. You can also learn more here at Wikipedia. (story here)
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