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| Formation
of the Yangtze Gorges and Construction of the Key Water Control Project
(1) |
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| By
Ren Min |
| When
you pass through the Yangtze Gorges, standing in awe before the beauties
of the towering peaks and the sheer cliffs, wondering if they were
all feats of supernatural spirits, can you imagine that the spectacular
Yangtze Gorges was completely submerged in deep waters of a vast ocean
200,000,000 years ago? |
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Heaven
on earth |
| About
180,000,000 years ago, Indo China Movement, one of the most violent
organic movements on earth, made the ancient Mediterranean retreat
to the west and the earth plates under the present Gorges up heaven.
A water system connected all the remnant rivers and lakes together
to flow westwards into the ancient Mediterranean. This water system
is the original Yangtze River but flowing in the opposite direction.
About 140, 000, 000 years ago, another movement, Yanshan Movement,
occurred in China, which resulted in the formation of Tanggula Mountains
and the constant slow upheaval of Qinghai Tibet Plateau. A series
of fold mountains such as Qiyao, Wushan and Huangling rose up along
the border of Sichuan and Hubei provinces, forming a valley with the
Daba Mountains to its north. Rivers and streams developed on both
slopes but flowed in different directions. When the next organic movement
took place about thirty or forty million years ago, the Himalayas,
the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau took shape, but the ancient Mediterranean
disappeared. The stretch of land along the present river reaches began
to rise, and this rising was greater at the western end, hence the
present position: the west end is higher than the east end. The anticlinal
strata along the present Yangtze Gorges continually grew up wards.
In the next thousands of years, the "Western River" on one
side of the strata and the "Eastern River" on the other
end cut deeper the river beds and drew nearer to each other until
they pierced through the rocks and joined together to form one whole
run. |
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A
core from the dam's foundation |
Once
the Gorges took its shape, the rushing torrents began scouring the
river bed and the banks, making the river deeper and broader. It was
with such indomitable strength and tenacity that the mighty Yangtze
River broke out of the mountain ranges, rushed through the rocky gorges,
and rolled on incessantly eastwards.
"From among thousands of mountains comes the great river rolling
eastwards." The Yangtze River flows over the vast land of Central
China like a colorful belt around China's waist. Originating from
the southwestern slope of the snow copped Mt. Geladandong, the major
peak of the Tanggula Mountains, the Yangtze River rolls through 10
provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions of Qinghai, Tibet,
Sichuan, Yunnan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui, Jiangsu and Shanghai,
admitting over 200 tributaries on its 6380 km journey before it empties
into East China Sea. It is the third longest river in the world, only
after the Amazon and the Nile. |
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Cliff
in Wu Gorge |
In
its long history, the Yangtze had different names. Originally, it
was referred to only as Jiang (River), later Dajiang (Great River),
but now the Yangtze. Actually speaking, the section from its origin
to the mouth of the Chumaer River is called the Tuotuo River, the
next section from the mouth of the Chumaer to the mouth of the Batang
River in Yushu is called the Tongtian River; the section from the
Batang to Yibing of Sichuan Province is the Jinsha River; the last
section is named the Changjiang River. The main stream of the River
is also divided into three parts. From the origin to Yichang of Hubei
Province is the upper part, from Yichang to Hukou of Jiangxi Province
the middle part, and from Hukou to its exit at Congming Island, the
lower part.
Each year, the Yangtze contributes 1000 billion m3 water into the
sea. Such a volume is about 20 times that of the Yellow River. The
River has an estimated potential water energy capacity of 260 million
kilowatts making up 40% of the total amount throughout the country,
and this amount is even greater than the total in the three countries
of the U.S., Canada and Japan. The river's 1.8 million km2 drainage
area, which is almost one fifth of China's total territory, is the
essence of the country, where one fourth of Chinese people are living
and multiplying, creating 40% of China's total wealth. From ancient
times, this river has been praised, admired and worshipped as River
Mother of China. |
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Cliff
in Wu Gorge |
Nevertheless,
this great river, the cradle of Chinese nationality and civilization,
is also a serious trouble-maker at the country's heart. The abundant
river water has brought about harvests and wealth, but it is also
the origin of boundless miseries. Historical records tell us that
from the beginning of the Han Dynasty to the end of the Qing, a period
of over 2000 years, as many as 214 severe floods took place on the
middle and lower reaches, about one every ten years. During the Qing
and the Republic of China periods, fierce floods occurred about every
5 years. The embankments on middle and lower parts of the Han River,
the biggest tributary of the Yangtze, burst about 2 times every 3
years. From 1153 to the present, over 10 worst floods have broken
out along the Yangtze. Frequent floods submerged a large amount of
fields and caused heavy losses of lives. The two floods which occurred
in 1931 and in 1935 submerged 50, 960, 000 mu (340, 000 hectares )and
22, 460, 000 mu (150, 000 hectares)of farmland respectively, with
a loss of 145, 500 people in the first, and 142, 000 in the other.
In 1945, despite the great efforts made by millions of people, the
flooding killed 33,000 people and submerged 47, 950, 000 mu (3.2 million
hectares) of cropland. Transport on the Beijing-Guangzhou railway
was suspended for 100 days. Those who suffered most from all these
are the people along the river banks.
How to solve this serious problem? How to remove the heavy burden
of the Yangtze flooding off the hearts of Chinese people? How to tame
the river so that it would cause no more trouble? And how to make
it benefit the Chinese nation? These questions have long haunted in
the minds of more than one generation.
"Walls of stone will stand upstream to the west,
To hold back Wushan's clouds and rain
Till a smooth lake rises in the narrow gorges."
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Zhongbao
Isle, the base of the project, view from sky |
| (To be continued) |
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