(October 31, 2001) Hundreds of factories, hospitals and other buildings containing hazardous materials are to be dismantled and their sites scrubbed clean before the Three Gorges dam reservoir is filled to the 135-metre level in 2003. But as the deadline looms, concern is mounting that time is too short for an environmental cleanup of this magnitude.

(November 21, 2001) Li Peng, long-time champion of the Three Gorges dam, has raised concerns about the project’s giant turbines, which will be larger and more complicated than any ever attempted before.

(May 7, 2003) The current health crisis in China will have no impact on plans to fill the Three Gorges reservoir next month, state media reports.

(January 9, 2004) Journalist Dai Qing interviews Guo Laixi, an eminent geographer who took part in the Chinese feasibility study for the Three Gorges dam but became so alarmed about the project’s potential impacts that he refused to sign the study team’s final report.

(February 4, 2004) A key figure in China’s dam-building program who helped design the Three Gorges project calls the quality of construction work on the dam ‘far from excellent’ and ‘not first-class.’

(February 12, 2004) The problems that beset the Sanmenxia dam ‘will undoubtedly afflict the Three Gorges,’ a writer concludes in this excerpt from Dai Qing’s 1998 book, The River Dragon Has Come!

(February 18, 2004) The Three Gorges dam is partly to blame for dangerously low water levels in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River that have caused dozens of ships to run aground, official Chinese media reports say.

(March 10, 2000) ‘Many people have known something is wrong with the project, but few have dared to speak up,’ high-profile dam opponent Dai Qing wrote on Three Gorges Probe.

(March 10, 2000) China completed construction on Saturday of the controversial Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest hydroelectricity project, and marked the occasion with a subdued ceremony broadcast live on state television. …

(March 10, 2000) ‘Canadian engineers have offered studies supporting the dam. Canadian branches of companies such as GE and Siemens have provided turbine generators for the project. On the other side, groups such as Probe International have led the fight against [it].’

(November 28, 2000) Yichang, Hubei: The giant dam of the Three Gorges hydropower project on the Yangtze River was near completion, the construction company in charge of the project said Thursday.

(November 16, 2000) The Chinese government on Saturday started a fishing ban along the entire Yangtze River, the country’s longest, aiming to protect depleting fish resources.

(September 11, 2000) Construction for the giant dam of the Three Gorges hydropower project on the Yangtze River was expected to finish on May 20, an executive with the China Yangtze River Three Gorges Project Development Corporation said Sunday.