Three Gorges Dam fills

last updated 8 January 2015

Hubei, China

The world’s largest hydroelectric project took a great leap forward this week when China opened a sluice gate on the Yangtze River to fill the reservoir for the Three Gorges Dam. The project won’t be complete until 2009, but it has already generated enormous global criticism. To make way for the dam, the government forcibly relocated more than half a million people, and another 600,000 are still to be moved. Countless ancient stone carvings, as well as temples and cemeteries, will soon be underwater. Chinese officials say the $25 billion dam is necessary to generate electricity and prevent the frequent, and frequently deadly, flooding of the Yangtze.