Probe International

(August 14, 1999) ‘Despite the advantages, environmental problems along the Three Gorges reservoir are serious,’ China Daily says.

(August 8, 1999) Blowing up the Three Gorges cofferdam won’t trigger severe geological disasters, said project general manager Li Yongan. ‘Three Gorges dam will remain unaffected and safe even if there might be earthquakes.’

(August 5, 1999) Engineers have demolished the temporary barrier behind the Three Gorges dam, in a spectacular explosion.

(May 26, 1999) A giant ‘tongue’ with a vast rolling track will ‘gobble’ garbage near the dam in an effort to prevent waterborne rubbish from damaging the power generators. The tongue is aboard the world’s biggest sanitation ship, which will start work in July.

(April 6, 1999) The operation took about 12 seconds, causing nearly 190,000 cubic metres of concrete from the upper-30-metre section of the cofferdam to tumble into the river,

(December 8, 1998) ‘Although the waves caused by explosion were a little stronger than predicted, the dam and the power plant were unharmed,’ said Wu Xinxia, head of the demolition team that blew up the top 30 metres of the Three Gorges cofferdam.

(October 1, 1999) China’s biggest construction project since the Great Wall generates controversy at home and abroad.

(August 31, 1999) "the Three Gorges Dam is an open project, so we will continue to employ more foreign experts to help supervise and give consultancy to the construction in a bid to integrate China’s fine traditions with advanced world management concepts and make sure that the Three Gorges Project will last for a thousand years."

(August 31, 1999) …workers are now engaged in pouring concrete for the dam, as concrete is needed for the permanent ship lock, the riverbed dam, and the power plants on the left bank of the Yangtze.

(August 1, 1999) Atkinson has received a contract from the China Three Gorges Project Development Corporation (CTGPC) to serve in an advisory capacity preliminarily specified for one year for Phase 2 of the project, which includes the construction of spillway, powerhouse, shiplock, and shiplift.

(December 30, 1998) Prime Minister Zhu Rongji Wednesday warned engineers building the massive Three Gorges Dam to avoid "carelessness or negligence" in its construction, the state-controlled Xinhua news agency said.

(May 19, 1999) Canada network company, New Bridge (Xin Qiao) company has released their ATM network product for Three Gorges corporate network application, and so Three Gorges corporate network access platform was officially launched.

(December 8, 1999) An anticipated surge in overseas tourists wanting to cruise down the Yangtze River has failed to materialise, leaving ports near the Three Gorges full of idle luxury boats. Most of the 60 luxury vessels that travel through the area remain docked in Chongqing, Yichang and Wuhan, yesterday’s Beijing Morning Post reported. Last month, only two of the cruises were operating.

The number of overseas tourists taking a Three Gorges cruise has dropped from a peak of 100,000 in 1994 to fewer than 50,000 this year up to November.

(December 9, 1999) Redundant investment and cutthroat competition by cruise lines are ruining the tourist industry at the Three Gorges, China’s legendary scenic wonder, reported the December 8, 1999 Hua Sheng Bao (Hua Sheng Overseas Chinese Newspaper).