The Three Gorges reservoir cleanup operation blasts off this Sunday when a power plant is blown up live on national television, the Chongqing Economic News (Chongqing jingji bao) reports.

People displaced by the Three Gorges dam should not regard themselves as "special citizens" above the law, the Three Gorges Project Daily (Sanxia gongcheng bao) has warned.

The new Communist Party boss of Hubei province has warned that the Three Gorges dam will not solve the Yangtze River flood problem, according to the Web site of the Changjiang Water Resources Commission (CWRC).

Officials attempting to clamp down on widespread corruption in the Three Gorges dam resettlement operation have introduced new regulations pertaining to individual migrants.

Inspectors ordered construction of a new Yangtze River bridge to be suspended after discovering huge amounts of waste material being dumped directly into the river, posing a threat to shipping, the Chongqing Morning Post (Chongqing chenbao) reports.

A district at the centre of the intensifying drive to move residents from the Three Gorges dam area is offering resettlement officials both a carrot and a stick to help focus their minds on their unpleasant task.

This letter, written by farmers moved from Wushan county in 1997 to make way for the Three Gorges dam, was submitted to officials in June of last year, but has only recently come to light. It provides moving evidence of the extreme hardships the migrants have faced in the new location and documents a litany of broken promises by resettlement officials.

More than 100 officials involved in the Three Gorges resettlement operation were recently taken on a tour of a local prison to strengthen their resolve to resist corruption – and avoid arrest.

The Three Gorges dam resettlement operation is moving into high gear as officials prepare to forcibly relocate more than 130,000 people in the next year, according to the latest official figures.