(August 6, 2002) Two shiplifts being built on a Yangtze River tributary are being seen as pilot projects for a similar structure planned for the Three Gorges dam, an official publication reports. The recent story in the Three Gorges Project Daily (Sanxia gongcheng bao) indicates that despite serious design-stage setbacks with the Three Gorges shiplift, planners still intend to go ahead with construction of the giant hoist that would ease vessels’ passage through the world’s biggest dam.

In all of the debate so far over the proposed dams, ‘there is one group of stakeholders whose voice is largely unheard: the mostly poor local residents.’

Chinese firms may take part in the construction of a dam on the Salween (Nu) River across the border in Burma.

(July 23, 2002) Three Gorges clean-up: Wanzhou tackles radioactive waste and prepares to move graves, while Chongqing prepares to exterminate rats.

Archeologists scrambling to excavate a well-preserved Song dynasty town due to be submerged by the Three Gorges reservoir next year have so far completed only a fraction of the work, the Yancheng Evening News reports.

Chinese scientists racing to save the world’s most endangered marine mammal from extinction may have only three to five years left before their efforts are futile, People’s Daily reports.

Water engineer Zhang Guangdou’s support for China’s big dams ensured a smooth career, capped now by a million-yuan prize. Huang Wanli, meanwhile, spoke out about the projects’ risks, and endured harsh punishment.