Clients Last Name Goes Here 1 THREE GORGES DAM Three Gorges Dam is the most controversial Chinese

government mega-project related to construction of hydroelectric dam. The Chinese government had been rejecting all warnings from scientists concerning the construction of dam until it was finally constructed several months ago. Most of the warnings lie in asserting that the dam itself might cause the irrevocable environmental changes. To put it more definitely, the dam might provoke landslides due to increased pressure on surrounding lands, surge of waterborne diseases in the nearby regions, a decline in biodiversity. Nevertheless, the project was realized and the dam was built. Progovernment supporters always stress the dams economic importance, underscoring huge Chinas energy consumption, which cannot be assuaged without building such mega-projects (Chetham, 2002). However, as Mara Hvistendahl argues in her article Chinas Three Gorges Dam: An Environmental Catastrophe, the idea of harnessing the Yangtze River was born at the beginning of the 20th century (Hvistendahl, 2008). The then nascent Chinese nationalistic government led by genius leader Dr. Sun Yat-sen proclaimed in 1919 that curbing of the Yangtze is a goal of the modern China. His antagonist and assailant Mao Zedong, who tried to initiate building of the dam in the 1950s, supported Sun Yat-sens notion. Still, the economic woes caused by the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution of 1960s prevented the Communist government from realization of its intentions. Eventually, the project was started in 1994 by China Yangtze Three Gorges Dam Development Corporation (CTGPC) and lasted until 2012. The Chinese fully support any voluble idea initiated by the official government due to peculiarities of the Chinese mentality. Thus, whereas in terms of environmental problems provoked by the dam the Chinese government has no arguments, it has a strong justification, which can be found in the Chinese mentality.

Clients Last Name Goes Here 2 References Chetham, D., 2002. Before the Deluge: The Vanishing World of the Yangtze Three Gorges, New York: Palgrave Macmillan Press. Hvistendahl, M., 2008. Chinas Three Gorges Dam: An Environmental Catastrophe [Online] Available at < http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=chinas-three-gorges-damdisaster&page=2>