Three Gorges Dam

Having missed the first excursion of the cruise, we gleefully took advantage of the fact that the 4 desktop computers on board “YOU CANNOT USE LAPTOPS OR WIRELESS INTERNET ON BOARD THE CENTURY SUN” (sheesh!) were available. So I sat down and wrote all of you who were wondering what part of the flat ocean/earth we had fallen off of…..email after email. The joke, of course, was on me, since China had installed some very effective filters on those available computers, so our faithful missals home were either lying dead on the floor or bouncing around in cyber-space somewhere. Still, I felt better about it. Ignorance is bliss.

The next day we really entered “Gorge Country” and it was, well, gorgeous. We made an excursion to the actual Three Gorges Dam site, had a tour and everything, while they explained the need for the dam that had displaced the entire population of the valley. The design, technology and scope of the project is overwhelming and a testament to Chinese determination. Determination on the part of the government, of course. And in return, as the Scientific American reported “the government ordered some 1.2 million people in two cities and 116 towns clustered on the banks of the Yangtze to be evacuated to other areas before construction, promising them plots of land and small stipends—in some cases as little as 50 yuan, or $7 a month—as compensation”.

After returning to the ship, we started the job of passing through the area. The site consists of 5 locks. It took us 4 hours to navigate the locks, allowing us to pass through into the “Lessor Gorge” area. By this time the river was bordered on both sides by huge, steep walls of granite, trees, and amazingly- crop fields. Many farmers had their lands taken from them, with promises of payment and help in moving. Allegedly, funds for relocating the 13,000 farmers around Gaoyang disappeared after being sent to the local government, leaving residents without compensation. Crop fields- more on that later.

By this time we were rather “locked” out, and most of us had retired to the bar for some liquid refreshment that wasn’t muddy and flowing past the bow of our ship. Tomorrow was another big day- a transfer to a smaller boat that would take us up into the valleys flooded by the dam, and the opportunity to float over all of those homes, schools and such lying 600 feet below the current water level.

As promised, the next day we met a local tour guide and started up the valley. “Susan” was about 28 years old, and she and her parents were among the people displaced by the flooding of the region. She pointed out the beautiful, new, tall, high-rises along the (new) riverbank, and was happy to share with us the exact condo that she and her husband now own. She said that the old people are still bitter about the loss of their homeland, but that the young people are happy to have the new, modern apartments. And there are many. When you move 1 ¼ million people, something has to give. And this is a hilly region, so obviously the only way to go is….up. Just like in the cities, buildings are skyscrapers. And densely packed together. I guess they have to be thankful for all of the kilowatts that the dam is providing because you seriously would not want to have a power outage and have to use the stairs in these buildings. Damn. Dam.