(National 5A-class)
As the world largest hydropower project, the Three Gorge Project is located at the Zhongbao Island near Sandouping in Yichang, and about 37 km away from the Gezhouba Hydropower Project in the downstream. The whole construction is completed according to the plan of “first class development, complete construction, reservoir by stages, and continuous immigrants”. The total construction period lasts for 17 years including 3 phases. The first phase was from 1993 to 1997; the second phase was from 1998 to 2003; and the third one is from 2004 to 2009. The total investment is estimated to be RMB 203.9 billion Yuan. The reservoir will submerge about 28752 hectares of farmland and force about 1.1318 million people to immigrate to higher place. When this project is finally completed, the reserved water level will reach 175 m, with total reservoir capacity of 39.3 billion cubic meters.
Tanzi Ling (Peak Crock) Scenic Spot
Here we are the top of the Dam area, the Tangzi Ling (Peak Crock), with a height of 242.48 m. And we can overlook the general of Three Gorges Project and Dam Area.
On the Tanzi Ling, we first visit the Hall of the Project Model, where shows the whole mini construction of the Project. And there we can view real part of the Eternal Riverbed Rock, the Sill under the Dam and the Damming Rock. Then we climbed the peak top and over look the overall appearance of the Three Gorges Project.
The Hall of the Project Model
These models lay out the complete project with a scale of 1:850. As the largest one in the world, the Project with large installed capacity and huge engineering scope will bring out marked and integrated benefits. With 13 tops in the world, this project is not only for flood control but also giving great benefits to the later generations, showing great role in comprehensive national strength increase of China.
The Project body consists of the main dam, generation stations and navigation building. The concrete gravity main dam is about 2309 m in length and 185 m in width. And the dam top width is 15 m, while the bottom one is 124 m. The discharge dam is in the middle of the Main Dam, while power generation stations are in both ends. The 483-meter discharge dam consists of 22 overflows and 23 deep overflows, functioning as flood discharge and sludge remove.
The generation stations are in the both ends of the main dam. 14 generators are installed for left generation stations, while 12 for right ones. With 700 thousand kW capacity for each, the installed capacity will reach 18.2 million kW and 84.7 billion kWh each year, which accounts for 1/9 of the nation total and is 5.3 times of the Gezhouba Project’s total.
The navigation buildings consist of two-way 5-stage ship lock and ship elevator. The ship lock is 6442 m in length and 300 m in width, with two way and 5 stages. And it is divided into 10 rooms, 280 m in length and 34 m in width for each, with minimum water depth of 5m; the fall between upstream and downstream is 113 m, suitable for 10 thousand tonnages ships. But it takes almost two and half hour to pass through the lock. Therefore, the ship elevator is designed for fast navigation for medium and small ships below 3000 tonnages. The elevator container is about 120 m in length and 18 m in width, with minimum water depth of 3.5 m. And it only needs 30~40 minutes for these ships to pass through the dam.
It’s been a long road for China to come true the dream of Three Gorge Project. As early as 1918, Mr Sun Zhongshan proposed the design plan firstly. Soon after the People’s Republic of China founded, the Party Central Committee and Chairman Mao Zedong started to concern the control and development of the Yangtze Three Gorges. Later, the former premier Zhou Enlai worked out the general plan for development of the Yangtze River. By the efforts of past generations, and finally the “Resolution for Construction of the Yangtze Three Gorge Project” had been passed in the 5th meeting of the 7th National People\'s Congress on April 3, 1992. During the past 75 years, this project was the only hydropower project voted by the National People\'s congress Council, and was the best prepared and longest project in the world.
Now the past generation’s efforts have come true, and the great builders have created wonders one by one. And lots of technology indicators are the top both at home and abroad. So, all Chinese people are proud of it, because it will show the talent of Chinese people, and open a new age on conquering and rebuilding the nature.
Eternal Riverbed Rock
Riverbed rock is granite, with weight over 20 ton. Commonly we call it the “Eternal Riverbed Rock”. Actually, it’s over 800 million years old. From this rock, people get to know the very past of the Yangtze River. Now, on the rock, we can see some bore holes, which were left by the geologists and the hydropower specialists when investing the dam site. And this rock was originally excavated from the footing groove of cofferdam during the 2 phase construction period.
The Damming Rock
This is the damming rock, a double sized model. We put it here to make it a symbol of the spirit of water controlling. The real rock is triangle tetrahedron, with each side length of 2.5m, and weight of 28 ton. In 1981, rocks used for damming the Yangtze River at the Gezhouba Project were just half the size. This shape was approved by the modern technology as the best to fight against the rip current. When thrown into the water, its sharp edge cuts into silt to make it stable in the flow. So rocks of this shape, representing the modern hydro technology, have been applied for both Gezhouba Project and Three Gorges Project.
The Sill under the Dam
This columned rock pillar is a sample of the sill under the dam. Before the construction, there used to be an island, Zhongbao Island, in the center of Yangtze River. And this rock was drilled out from the rock formation under the island. Been considered and approved over 70 years, the Yangtze Three Gorges Project site was finally set at the Zhongbao Island.
The Great Embossment
This embossment is called “the headstream breeding the life”. The big copper plate embossment in the front looks like a generating wheel in water, and 3 strong men are rotating it hand in hand, representing a spirit that the world is living on the water. On two sides of the copper embossment, there is a tiger and a phoenix telling the specific geographic location and the cultural background of the Three Gorges Project because the Chu People adored the phoenix while the Ba people adored the tiger. The commanding tiger and the illustrious phoenix are the best representatives of the people in the Three Gorges to tell the world their dreams of the dam. Please take a careful look at the both sides, the figures on the top right side are a modern man and the legend Da Yu. They are lapping over each other to show two Chinese characters, the “Big” and the “Man”. With a sill rock core in hand, the modern man represents the advanced hydropower technology. A shovel in hand, the legend Da Yu tells the long history of the Chinese fighting against the floods. The background here is the great scenery of the dam construction. Starting from the left, it also shows the sceneries of the great immigration movement, the industries of the stockbreeding and the shipping. There are characters like laborious women, lovely kids, and the reliable husband. Dramatically, there are three fairies flying there in the sky. Together with the other fairies on the whole picture, there are 12 of them in total standing for the 12 peaks among the Wu Mountains. Turn to look the figures at the bottom; the leading character is a young lady together with a fairy. The flowers and fruits symbolize the sweet love and the happy ideals. Meanwhile, the plant, animals, and fishes in the background are telling the environment of the Three Gorges. The figure of the Easter Pearl Tower, the Shanghai Port, and the buildings in the bund areas signify the contribution that this project will make for the region along the mid and the down stream of the Yangtze. Additionally, some other figures are also show in the picture like the fairies playing music, dance of the Ba People, the thousand-hands Kwan-yin, and etc.
Echoing with the figures in the front, the central embossment in the back is the legendary that the magic bull helped Da Yu excavate the gorges. On both of the two sides, there are the paintings of the gorges and the waters. In the gorges, there is an ancient picture showing the poor boatman, the boat trackers, and the people plunged into an abyss of misery, which tell you the worst living condition of the people in the Three Gorges region in ancient times. On two sides, there are the sun, the moon, the Polaris, and the Big Dipper, composing a small celestial body. The flowing water splashing on the grass links together the figure of the whole embossment to show the strong culture connotation of the union of the space, the earth, and the human.
Sightseeing Platform on Tanzi Ling
Here we are the sightseeing platform at the top of the Tanzi Ling, and here is the best place to view the entire construction site. Firstly, we can see the main dam, where was former main navigation route. And next to the south bank is the 3 phase site of the Three Gorges Project, where will set the right bank generation stations. Please look at the further city at the mountainside of the opposite bank, it’s the new city of Zigui County. The reserved water has submerged the old city. And national government chose the mountainside as the new city site, and kept 30 thousand immigrants from places below the 175-meter water level. And look to the downstream, you will find the entire construction of the permanent ship lock. So here is the place “when standing at the top summit, we will see how small the surroundings are”.
185 Sightseeing Stand
The so called 185 sightseeing stand is the start place of the main dam, which got the name from its height of 185 m.
Sightseeing Stand at the Dam Top
The discharge dam is 483 in length, consisting of 23 deep outlets, 22 overflows and 22 bottom outlets. The bottom outlets have been submerged since the first water reserve in June of 2003.
Normally, the speed of the water column from the deep outlet can reach 110 km/h, even 120 km/h when water level equals to 175 m.
Damming Memorial Park
The damming memory park is located in the right bank of the main dam, covering an area of 90,000 m2. Here will take you back to the great historical damming moment by site remains show, scene play, video illustration, and historical records etc.
This memorial park consists of material section, technology exhibit section, acting section, and tour & entertainment section. The material section is the former material site for construction in the right bank. The giant tetrahedron spreading in the grass are the remains of damming rocks, which vividly show us the great of damming in the Yangtze River. And the giant construction machines, used to be “heavy weapons” for successful damming. In the technology exhibit hall, we will back to the damming historic moment by the modern image reproduction system. In the acting square, engineering cultural shows will carry on every day. By these shows, we will follow the builders to recall true stories in the damming project.