Probe International

(October 12, 1995) Chinese Premier Li Peng is expected to lend a helping hand to Prime Minister Jean Chrétien tomorrow in his bid to secure business for Canadian firms in the construction of China’s Three Gorges dam. Premier Li is attending the annual general meeting of the Canada China Business Council tomorrow in Montreal and is expected to announce the award of contracts to help build the massive and controversial Three Gorges dam.

(April 5, 1995) China is being overwhelmed by a “tourist fever to bid farewell to Three Gorges,” and officials fear the situation “presents a serious threat to public security and order in tourist areas”

(February 6, 2006) Hong Kong-listed Huaneng Power International, the mainland’s largest independent power producer, has committed to the Three Gorges project.

(February 7, 2006) Archeologists conducting urgent excavations in the soon-to-be-flooded Three Gorges area have reported the discovery of ‘the largest and best preserved cultural ruins of the Tang dynasty (AD 618-907).’

(February 12, 2006) Protesters raise questions inside the meeting about the U.S. investment bank’s involvement in the financing of the Three Gorges dam.

(February 13, 2006) China will soon begin a drive to drum up financing from stock markets, despite expected protests. After the initial public offering in Shanghai, a listing in Hong Kong is likely and possibly in London as well.

(February 13, 2006) Beijing has told the provinces they will have to buy Three Gorges power before purchasing from any other source. Now officials in charge of building the dam also want the central government to absorb 25% of the project’s debts.

(February 28, 2002) The success of China’s vast Three Gorges dam project is under threat from large amounts of pollution and toxic waste that could badly contaminate a reservoir due to be created for the scheme, a senior official has warned.

(February 14, 2006) The company building China’s controversial Three Gorges Dam, the world’s biggest hydroelectric project, is gearing up to tap domestic and overseas capital to fund construction, says a source close to the firm

(February 14, 2006) Eight renowned Chinese painters will work for the next six months on a huge panorama of the Three Gorges, “to retain its beauty on a scroll painting 50 metres long,” CCTV reports.

(February 12, 2002) Shanghai – Surrounded by the smell of chili and bacon unfamiliar to most Shanghaiers, former residents from the Three Gorges Dam area are observing the Chinese year of horse at their new homes in Chongming County in the east China metropolis.

(February 15, 2006) Blocking off the Three Gorges dam diversion channel, due to take place in November this year, will pose major technical challenges, the Xinhua news agency reports.

(February 18, 2006) The widow of a construction worker who died at the dam site has withdrawn her lawsuit against the U.S. firm after being offered compensation and an apology.