It is certainly a significant festivity all through China, when the Three Gorges Dam was completed on May 20, 2006. But is it really worthy of congratulations? Every coin has two sides, the advantages and disadvantages of the Three Gorges Dam need us to speculate seriously, while it is not so simple apparently.

The construction of Three Gorges Dam certainly brings us significant efficiencies. For example, its benefit on controlling flood is apparent. The Yangtze River valley is one of the most serious flooded areas, especially in the midstream and downstream area. It is estimated that the average direct economy benefits will up to 0.97billion on the base of the price in 1986 after the construction of the Three Gorges Dam. If there were catastrophic flood like the one in 1870, it would reduce the loss at a total of 35 billion at one time. Beside, the Three Gorges Dam is also effective on generation. The Three Gorges Dam has 26 installations with a total capacity of 18.2 million kW and annual generation of 84.7 billion kWh, equal to one-ninth of the current generation in China. What’s more, the Three Gorges Dam consumedly improves the Waterway of Chuanjiang River.

However, something has gone wrong due to the construction of the Three Gorges Dam. Land slides emerge in some area of the reservoir. And storing water all the year round may induce earthquake. 1.13 million inhabitants have to immigrate because of The Three Gorges project. Most of the original industries here need to stop production for the environment necessity, while new industries have not developed, which causes part of the immigrations hard to get a job. There are still some other disadvantages, such as the lost of non-material cultural heritage.

In a word, we need to assess the Three Gorges Dam abjectly.