History of Three Gorges Project – From Idea to Construction

History of Three Gorges Project – First Put Forward by Sun Yat-sen

The idea that to build a dam in Yangtze River Three Gorges was first put forward by Sun Yat-sen in 1919. He thought that there should build a dam under Yichang to block water so that ships can navigate against the current and the water resource can be used. Based on this idea, the national government made an agreement with U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in middle of 1940, decided to use American funds to build a hydropower station, and invited John Lucian Sovage who is a famous hydraulic engineer to do research in China. After three times research, he thought the Three Gorges Project is feasible. He also arranged the preparation work. But this thing was fruitless because of Chinese civil war.

History of Three Gorges Project – Put Forward By Mao Zedong Again

After the People's Republic of China was built, there happened several floods in the upstream of the Yangtze River, which greatly threatened Wuhan and some other cities in the middle stream of the Yangtze River. So the idea of Three Gorges Project was put forward again. When Mao Zedong visited Three Gorges, he said that" the Three Gorges Project must be and can be built","when will the project be built depends on the preparation works done". Under the direction of Zhou Enlai, the preparation works were processed. But, this caused hot discussion. Under this condition and considered other factors, Mao Zedong decided to build the Gezhouba Dam as the trial project of Three Gorges Project.

History of Three Gorges Project – Came into Construction Stage

When the Cultural Revolution was ended, China put forward the slogan of striving for the four modernizations, to build a series of key projects to promote the economic development. The Three Gorges Project was put forward again. In 1983, Ministry of Water Conservancy and Electric Power handed on the feasibility Research Report, and set hand on preparation works. In 1984, State Department approved this report. But, this project was strongly opposed by many members of the CPPCC National Committee in 1985. Later, the State Department organized many experts to re-argue the Three Gorges Project. The conclusion of the argument is that the Three Gorges Project is feasible and suitable. But the argument didn't end since this conclusion. So the State Department decided to hand over this report to the fifth meeting of the Seventh National People's Congress. In April 3, 1992, this proposal was passed, which marked the Three Gorges Project came into construction stage.