(September 13, 2002) ‘Environmentalist Yu Xiaogang and his Green Watershed group, based in Kunming and famed for its opposition to dams on the Nu River, were awarded this year’s top prize.
Green policies, not giant dam, help reduce Yangtze flood toll
Many experts say the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze withstood this summer’s floods relatively well, thanks to ‘greener’ policies on the floodplain promoted since 1998 by Premier Zhu Rongji.
Flood types on the Yangtze River
(September 12, 2002) The big dam will be ‘totally useless’ in the face of the most common type of Yangtze flood, a senior Chinese Academy of Sciences researcher writes.
Three Gorges dam doubts all water under the bridge
(September 11, 2002) China Yangtze Power’s Zhang Dingming says in an interview that the operation of the hydropower plant points to success on a grand scale.
Three Gorges just Act One in the drive to harness nature
(September 11, 2002) Even before all the generators at the Three Gorges dam come into operation, Chinese planners are furiously mapping out numerous dams along some of the biggest rivers in the southwestern part of the country.
Hated, feted but still awesome
(September 11, 2002) ‘The sheer size of the [Three Gorges] dam has fuelled decades of controversy. … Environmentalist and writer Dai Qing has not relaxed her condemnation of the project.’
Taiwan ‘conducts computer-simulated attack on the dam’
(September 4, 2002) Amid growing tensions with Taiwan, China has revealed that it has built a missile defence shield to protect the Three Gorges dam from the threat of military attack.
Dying to breathe
(August 29, 2002) As pollution worsens in China, Beijing is under pressure to develop sources of renewable energy. Unfortunately, it includes large-scale hydropower in that category despite the environmental damage caused by big dams.
The lessons of Harbin
(August 22, 2002) ‘Government inaction means millions are paying for prosperity with their health.’
Three Gorges shiplift lags behind schedule
(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.
Missing voices on the Nu River dam project
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.’
Harmony stems from democracy
(July 31, 2002) ‘The market economy is not a sin. … the sin comes from inequality of non-economic rights. It is this inequality of rights that distorts China’s market economy, and that also leads to omnipresent corruption and peasant problems,’ writes Prof. Zhu Xueqin.
Skyscraper that may cause earthquakes
(July 31, 2002) Geologists fear the weight of the world’s tallest building may have transformed a stable area into one susceptible to seismic activity. But compared with dams, they say, buildings such as Taipei 101 are mere pinpricks on the Earth’s surface.
Thailand, Myanmar agree controversial dam scheme
Chinese firms may take part in the construction of a dam on the Salween (Nu) River across the border in Burma.
Cleanup tackles radioactive waste, graves, and rats
(July 23, 2002) Three Gorges clean-up: Wanzhou tackles radioactive waste and prepares to move graves, while Chongqing prepares to exterminate rats.
Probe International 