Probe International

(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.

(September 11, 2000) Construction of China’s Three Gorges dam is likely to be finished by 20 May, nine months ahead of schedule, according to state media reports. But several generators will still have to be installed and the dam is expected to become fully operational in 2009.

(August 25, 2000) Some 80,000 residents in the Three Gorges dam area in central China are to be resettled to pave the way for the water to rise from 135 meters to 156 meters this year.

(July 20, 2000) Construction of the giant Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River is due to end in two weeks’ time, marking the completion of the major part of the Three Gorges Hydropower Project.

(July 19, 2000) Shanghai: The China Three Gorges Project Corporation (CTGPC) is keen to emphasize the virtues of its flagship hydropower dam on the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. The state-owned company recently launched a propaganda campaign entitled "