In March 1992, the Fifth Session of the Seventh National People's Congress was officially held in Beijing.
At this meeting, there was a very important task, that is, to discuss and vote on whether to build the Three Gorges Water Conservancy Hub Project.
In order to form this proposal, the central authorities and relevant departments have worked hard for many years and invited experts to conduct demonstrations on several occasions.
However, every time there is an argument, there are always experts who raise objections, believing that the Three Gorges cannot be built.
Figure | Fifth Session of the Seventh National People's Congress (old photo)
Shortly before the meeting, nine experts headed by Hou Xueyu expressed their opposition to the central authorities.
The nine experts bluntly stated that the Three Gorges Project must not be launched, and also refused to sign the conclusion report of the feasibility study of the Three Gorges Project.
At the Fifth Session of the Seventh National People's Congress, 177 deputies voted against it, and 664 deputies chose to abstain.
So, what exactly are they worried about, and what are they worried about? Now that the Three Gorges has been built, have their concerns become a reality?
Distant ideas
The grand Three Gorges Hydropower Station is not only the largest water conservancy hub on the mainland, but also the well-deserved first in the world.
This project can be said to be a miracle in human history, and now people often say that the mainland is an "infrastructure demon".
The reason why the mainland can get this title is that the Three Gorges Water Conservancy Hub Project of the Yangtze River occupies a great weight in it.
Figure | overlooking the Three Gorges Water Conservancy Hub Project
This water conservancy project runs from Fengjie in Chongqing to Yichang in Hubei Province, with a total of 193 kilometers.
Although this huge water conservancy project was only completed in the 21st century, in fact, the idea of this project was already proposed more than 90 years ago.
This person is the famous Dr. Sun Yat-sen.
In the summer of 1918, Dr. Sun Yat-sen wrote in his "International Plan for the Joint Development of Chinese Industry":
"From Yichang up, into the gorge, about 100 miles to the lowlands of Sichuan ... Improve this upstream section, when the sluice dammed its water, so that the boat can be traced to the current, and its water power can be used, when the beach stone should be burst open and removed, so that the waterway with a depth of ten feet, down from Hankou, up to Chongqing..."
Photo | Dr. Sun Yat-sen (old photo)
Dr. Sun Yat-sen believes that if a dam is built along the Three Gorges, then the navigation from Chongqing to Shanghai can be directly connected, and the shipping cost savings are extremely considerable.
At the same time, the electricity generated by water power can become a huge energy for industry to save the country.
Regrettably, with the historical conditions of the time and the limitations of social production capacity, there were no conditions or capacities to complete such a large-scale project.
Therefore, until his death, Dr. Sun Yat-sen could not see this ideal become a reality.
The Yangtze River has a long history and rich hydrology, which is not only the mother river of the Chinese nation, but also one of the most important sources of resource development.
Although Dr. Sun Yat-sen died as early as 1925, people did not abandon the vision of building water conservancy facilities in the Three Gorges.
Figure | Yun Zhen organized and participated in volunteer labor
In October 1932, the electrical engineer Yun Zhen regained this blueprint and led a professional survey team to conduct the first survey of the Three Gorges water conservancy resources.
After three months of surveying and surveying, the team proposed two dam sites: the Huangling Temple (now the Sandouping of the Three Gorges Dam of the Yangtze River) and the Gezhou Dam.
Although the National Government at that time affirmed this survey work and site selection, for various reasons, the plan was temporarily sealed.
In 1944, as the War of Resistance Against Japan drew to a close, the Resources Committee of the Nationalist Government invited John Lucian Savage, an Expert in Dam Engineering in the United States, to Chongqing, considering that post-war reconstruction would require a large amount of electricity.
Pictured| Safanchi, an American dam engineering expert who has presided over the design of more than 60 dams such as Hoover Dam, Shasta Dam, and Grand Coulee Dam (old photo)
The main purpose of Savage's visit was to investigate the feasibility of building water conservancy projects along the Three Gorges area.
With the assistance of relevant Technical Personnel of the Chinese Side, Savage completed the inspection work and put forward the "Preliminary Report on the Three Gorges Plan of the Yangtze River."
This document is also known as the "Savage Project".
In 1946, Savage came to China again for re-surveying, and also publicized the benefits of the Three Gorges Water Conservancy Project to people from all walks of life in China and the United States.
Under his impetus, the relevant parties adopted the plan to build the Three Gorges Dam, and China and the United States signed a cooperation agreement.
Figure | Savage inspects the Three Gorges (old photo)
But at this time, China's environment was turbulent, and the economy and society were in chaos.
The War of Liberation soon began, and the Kuomintang army was defeated one after another, and it was no longer possible to continue this plan.
In May 1947, the Nationalist government announced the suspension of the cooperation program, and all technicians from the United States were evacuated.
The construction of the Three Gorges Dam seems to have become an untouchable dream at this time.
It was not until after the founding of New China that this dusty and dusty for many years was "revived" again.
On October 1, 1949, Beijing's Tiananmen Square was boiling, and New China was proclaimed in the eyes of all.
Unfortunately, soon there was a huge flood in the Yangtze River Basin, and the newborn China had not yet had time to repair the wounds of war, and it was already in a hurry to provide flood relief.
In early 1950, the Yangtze River Water Conservancy Commission was formally established.
In order to reduce the burden of flooding in the Jingzhou River Basin in Hubei Province, Chairman Mao personally approved the Jingjiang Diversion Project in 1950.
This project is also one of the first projects planned for construction after the establishment of the Yangtze River Water Conservancy Commission.
The construction and completion of this project shocked the Chinese and foreign water conservancy communities, and the diversion project brought safety to the people on both sides of the Jingjiang River and alleviated the frequent floods to a large extent.
But in the face of the capricious flood season, flood discharge can only be a temporary measure to cure the symptoms rather than the root causes.
Water experts point out that larger plans and projects are needed to completely solve the flood.
Three years later, Lin Yishan, who was in charge of setting up the Yangtze River Basin Planning Office, reported to Chairman Mao in Wuhan.
Figure | Chairman Mao pondering in front of the map (old photo)
He mentioned that the construction of a series of cascade reservoirs, which will be used to hold floodwaters, is already planned.
After understanding the comparison of the functions of these cascade reservoirs with the Three Gorges Reservoir, Chairman Mao proposed that "all their merits should be done in one battle," and the Three Gorges water conservancy is considered to be a necessary strategy for meritorious service in the future.
A difficult road to construction
In 1954, the Yangtze River Basin suffered another flood that was rare in a century.
In the midst of the floods, the country and the people have suffered serious losses, and the rectification of the Yangtze River Basin cannot be delayed.
In April 1955, the Chinese government invited 126 Soviet experts to join the Yangtze River Water Conservancy Commission.
Under the leadership of the topographic survey team, Soviet experts and Chinese staff went deep into the Three Gorges area to conduct in-depth investigations on the geographical conditions and hydrological conditions in all aspects.
The Soviets also sent aircraft to assist in the survey, and it took about a year for the survey and survey to come to an end.
However, the opinions of Soviet and domestic experts were not unified.
The Soviet Side proposed that although the Three Gorges Project has great utility, the actual operation possibility is very low.
Domestic experts believe that preparations for the Three Gorges Project should be started as soon as possible.
After considering various factors, Premier Zhou formally approved the Opinions on the Planning of the Three Gorges Water Conservancy Hub and the Yangtze River Basin at the Chengdu Work Conference in 1958.
Chairman Mao personally wrote instructions on this document, requiring that all work should be prepared first.
At the end of this year, the Yangtze River Water Conservancy Commission handed over the preliminary design points of the Three Gorges Project and set the address of the Three Gorges Dam in Sandouping.
However, the Three Gorges Project did not proceed smoothly.
In 1960, a brutal natural disaster swept through China, followed by a sharp deterioration in Sino-Soviet relations, and the Three Gorges Project had to be shelved and then adjusted.
In 1970, the Wuhan Military Region and Hubei Province jointly sent a report on the Gezhouba Project to the CPC Central Committee.
The report was quickly approved, and the Gezhouba project was quickly launched, and construction began on December 30, 1970.
In the original plan, the Gezhouba Project was a supporting project of the Three Gorges Project, which was supposed to be built after the completion of the Three Gorges Project, but the central authorities made adjustments according to the actual situation.
In fact, this decision is very correct.
The construction of gezhou dam has laid a solid foundation for the future Three Gorges Project in all aspects.
A foreign expert once said after inspecting Gezhou Dam: "If Chinese can build this dam, it can build any water conservancy project!" ”
In July 1980, Comrade Xiaoping learned in detail from relevant experts about the state and difficulties of the Three Gorges Project at that time.
After the reform and opening up, the focus of the mainland's construction has shifted to the economy, and it is in urgent need of energy support.
In 1982, Comrade Xiaoping once again stated that the Three Gorges Project should continue to be promoted.
In 1983, the Yangtze River Water Conservancy Commission submitted a new plan to the state, and on April 5, 1984, the State Council approved the plan in principle.
In 1986, 412 experts and 21 specially invited consultants, divided into fourteen expert groups, conducted a detailed feasibility demonstration of the Three Gorges Project, and the specific groupings were:
Geological earthquake group, hub building group, hydrological group, flood control group, sediment group, shipping group, power system group, mechanical and electrical equipment group, immigration group, ecological environment group, comprehensive planning and water level group, construction group, investment estimation group, comprehensive economic evaluation group.
After spending two years and eight months, the Group finally recommended a programme with a water storage level of 175 metres.
"It's better to build early than later, and it's better to build than not to build." This is the final conclusion of the team of experts.
Since then, the Three Gorges Dam has gone from a distant dream to reality step by step.
However, in this process, it is still full of hardships and difficulties.
The first is that some experts in the academic and engineering communities do not agree with this conclusion.
Hou Xueyu, member of the Faculty of Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences), and Fang Zongdai, a famous sediment expert, are among the representatives.
Some people say that Hou Xueyu was the only "listed expert" who opposed the Launch of the Three Gorges Project that year.
In May 2011, a reporter from the Oriental Morning Post interviewed Shen Guofang (academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering), the leader of the group who implemented the "Phased Assessment of the Demonstration and Feasibility Study Conclusions of the Three Gorges Project".
Photo | Academician Shen Guofang attended the event
Shen Guofang recalled the incident and told reporters:
"The people who want to oppose it are all engaged in ecology, not water conservancy, and in the end, are there any who do not sign?" Yes, and it is someone I respect, but the real listing expert who says 'I don't sign', this one, is Hou Xueyu. He was an academician at the time and a member of the Faculty. ”
Fang Zongdai, a well-known sediment expert, and Lu Qinkan, a late water conservancy and hydropower flood control expert, were two experts in the flood control group who refused to sign the conclusions of the argument at that time.
These dissenting experts were impatient about the insistence on building the Three Gorges and tried to reflect their concerns.
Before the npc session, a total of nine experts in the expert group firmly opposed and refused to sign their names on the consent form.
They were: Hou Xueyu, Fang Zongdai, Huang Yuanzhen, Li Yuguang, Liao Wenquan, Qin Xiudian, Wu Hongzhong, He Gegao, and Guo Laixi.
After receiving their feedback, the central authorities organized relevant departments to conduct demonstrations and judgments.
In March 1992, the Fifth Session of the Seventh National People's Congress was officially convened.
Pictured| the Fifth Session of the Seventh National People's Congress, Zou Jiahua made an explanation of the motion for the construction of the Three Gorges Project on the Yangtze River
Zou Jiahua, vice premier of the State Council and director of the State Planning Commission, presented a resolution on the new Three Gorges Project on the Yangtze River at the meeting.
In this report, the prototype of the Three Gorges Project is proposed, and the Three Gorges Water Conservancy will be the world's largest hydropower project.
The reservoir is widely flooded, covering more than 20 districts and counties in Hubei and Chongqing, and the migrant population is expected to reach more than 1.1 million.
Such a large-scale water conservancy project is unique in the whole world, and it is unprecedented in China's infrastructure industry.
Although the reform and opening up has been carried out for more than ten years, the national economic situation and the conditions in all aspects are not particularly good.
As a result, the project faces enormous challenges in all aspects.
So for this project, there are different voices in all aspects, including experts who actually participate in the research work.
These 9 opposing experts have made extraordinary achievements in their respective fields, and their objections are certainly not based on personal reasons, but on the consideration of the long-term development of the country.
They have been concerned about possible problems in the construction of the Three Gorges Dam, and the reasons for opposition can be summarized as follows:
The first is the problem of sediment accumulation.
Disapproving experts believe that after the Interception of the Three Gorges Dam, hundreds of millions of tons of sediment will also be stranded here, and the migration of fish that originally lived here will be interrupted.
Therefore, the accumulated sediment will also cause more than 500 kinds of rare terrestrial plants to be completely submerged, which will cause irreversible damage to the ecology of the Yangtze River waters.
Second, experts believe that the cost of construction is too high.
The static investment projected at the time was 135 billion yuan, a huge figure that did not include damage to the flooded areas.
Picture | old photo of Fuling White Crane Liang
China's comprehensive national strength at that time was not strong enough, and such huge funds may achieve better results if they are used to improve the living conditions of the people.
In addition, there are many ancient buildings and cultural relics in the flooded area that cannot be relocated, and once they are submerged, they will disappear forever, and their losses cannot be recovered.
Third, it involves national defense and security.
The Three Gorges Dam is huge, with a height of 185 meters poured across the line and a total design length of 2300 meters, making it the largest concrete gravity dam in the world.
Figure | 1998 Three Gorges Water Conservancy Hub Project (Overlook)
Once the war resumes, this huge project concerning the people's livelihood will surely become the most conspicuous target.
At that time, the international situation was rather grim, and experts were worried that the construction of the Three Gorges Water Conservancy would become a serious burden on national defense construction.
Of course, there are still many opinions against the Three Gorges Project, but the most concerned and reasonable opinions of the people are still the first and second articles.
On the issue of biodiversity, the most typical is the Chinese sturgeon.
Pictured| Chinese sturgeon
The Chinese sturgeon is a national key protected animal, and the construction of the Three Gorges Dam has indeed made the Chinese sturgeon face a crisis in survival and breeding.
On the other hand, there is a long history of the Bashu civilization around the Three Gorges, and there are also nearly 1,200 key cultural relics buildings.
Experts hope that these precious traditional civilizations will be well preserved.
In addition to the 9 opposing experts, some of the NPC deputies also have reservations.
At the Fifth Session of the Seventh National People's Congress, the Three Gorges Project bill received a total of 1,767 votes in favor, 177 against and 664 abstentions.
So many negative votes and abstentions are relatively rare.
The reason why they raise objections is not to stand against the national interests, nor to the national infrastructure itself.
They look at this matter from the perspective of ecological environment and traditional cultural protection, and worry that the matter will do more harm than good.
It is impossible to build such a huge project as the Three Gorges Water Conservancy, which has never been seen before and has never come after, without objections, and this is very normal.
It is precisely because there are many problems that may be faced, the field survey and feasibility analysis of the Three Gorges Project will cost so much manpower, material resources and time.
Only when the relevant departments continue to absorb the opinions from all sides in the preliminary preparatory work and try their best to find out the problems they may face can they make the most correct judgment in the construction.
The objections raised by these 9 experts are very valuable for the construction and construction of the Three Gorges Dam.
Only on the basis of listening to its suggestions and opinions can various problems that may be faced in the construction process be resolved in advance, and countermeasures can be prepared in advance.
For example, in the feasibility study of the Three Gorges Project on the Yangtze River, Fang Zongdai put forward major issues such as the Three Gorges Project and the siltation of Chongqing, the flood control in Wuhan and the impact on the Yangtze River Estuary, which played a role in promoting the feasibility study of the Three Gorges Project.
After all, the construction of the Three Gorges Project should also pay attention to science and sustainability, not just focus on economic benefits.
Realize the dream of the Three Gorges
So, how exactly will the situation that experts feared before the Construction of the Three Gorges Project be solved?
What about the solution? What is the overall situation and correctness of the Three Gorges Project?
These questions need to be answered with practice.
On April 3, 1992, the Fifth Session of the Seventh National People's Congress deliberated and adopted the Resolution on the Construction of the Three Gorges Project.
In January 1993, the Three Gorges Construction Committee was established, and at the same time, the Three Gorges Project Immigration and Development Bureau was established by the Committee.
In the summer of 1993, the China Three Gorges Project Development Corporation was established, and the construction of the Three Gorges Water Conservancy Hub Project began to advance in an orderly manner.
On November 8, 1997, the objectives of the first phase of the Three Gorges Project were successfully completed.
The second phase of the project took six years from 1998 to 2003.
Figure| On November 30, 2001, Zhang Guangdou, deputy head of the Quality Expert Group of the Three Gorges Project, inspected the construction site (old photo)
After the completion of the second phase, the Three Gorges Reservoir has been able to store water in the early stage, the first batch of generating units has been put into normal operation, and the permanent locks have been officially dredged.
However, by this time, the Three Gorges Project had not been completed.
Six years after the second six years, the power generation and hub project of all the units of the project were completed.
Since 1993, the construction of the Three Gorges Project has taken a total of 17 years, with an investment of 203.9 billion yuan.
The Three Gorges Reservoir has 39.3 billion cubic meters of water storage capacity and 22.5 million kilowatts of power generation, ranking among the world's largest water conservancy hub projects.
The annual power generation capacity of the Three Gorges Project is about 100 billion kilowatts, which has greatly reduced carbon dioxide emissions, and power radiation has spread to dozens of provinces.
In addition, before the Three Gorges Project was officially started, the cultural relics department had already put into work.
Many cultural relics and monuments around the Three Gorges have been rescued, and before 2009, all cultural relics and monuments have been protected.
Due to the damming of the river, it will inevitably change the hydrological characteristics of the Yangtze River, and the China Three Gorges Group has also carried out a lot of work in many aspects such as fish protection, breeding and stocking.
In 2013, 8,000 juvenile Chinese sturgeon and more than 2,000 cochineals were stocked into the Yichang section of the Yangtze River, and a natural ecological fishery was established in the Three Gorges Reservoir area, where 13 million economic fish were released.
The Chinese Sturgeon Research Institute has been protecting and popularizing the science of cherishing fish, and has made great contributions to the research of local aquatic organisms.
For the people's livelihood security in the areas covered by the Three Gorges Project, it accounts for the majority of the invested funds, and about 45% of the more than 200 billion yuan of funds are used for resettlement projects.
Picture | Three Gorges migrants
Developmental migration has led to increased employment rates for local people and increased incomes for residents.
At that time, the issue of immigration was a problem that many people worried about, but under the leadership of the Party, the state and the people worked together to overcome all kinds of difficulties and successfully completed this work.
In order to better monitor the situation of the Three Gorges Dam, 27 key monitoring stations have been established.
These monitoring stations provide the most powerful first-hand data for the Three Gorges Dam project by monitoring the local hydrology, agriculture, wetlands, atmosphere, earthquakes, and population health projects.
The completion of the Three Gorges Dam is not only a success in China's infrastructure construction, but also a great achievement in the history of human civilization.
Since the summer of 2014, the Three Gorges Dam has been open as a tourist attraction.
Many Chinese and foreign tourists come here, the Three Gorges Dam can accommodate 40,000 tourists a day, and the development of tourism has also brought great gains to the local economy.
The Three Gorges Project has produced very good benefits in flood control, irrigation, power generation, transportation and tourism.
Around the world, no water conservancy project can surpass this capability.
Monitoring data over the years proves that China will never fish in the waters and will not develop its economy at the expense of the ecological environment on which it depends.
The good news is that just last year, that is, from January 1, 2021, the Wuhan section of the main stream of the Yangtze and Han Rivers entered a ten-year fishing moratorium.
The problem of silt deposition, which was previously worried by experts, was finally solved after consideration and design of hydrology, sediment model, drainage trough structure and other aspects.
There is no doubt that the Three Gorges Water Conservancy Hub Project is a great construction.
Although to this day, the controversy over whether the benefits outweigh the disadvantages or the disadvantages outweigh the benefits of the Three Gorges Project are still sporadically raised, the author believes that practice is the only criterion for testing truth.
At present, the Three Gorges Project has shown strong economic value, and as for other issues, time will eventually prove everything.
-Ends-
Resources
1. Chinese Government Website: "Footprints of the Republic - 1994: Gaoxia Out of Ping Lake"
2. Science World Magazine, Science Press: Sun Tianren: How to evaluate Huang Wanli's concerns about the Three Gorges Project today? 》
3. Oriental Morning Post: "Three Gorges Re-investigation"
4. Selected Historical Materials of the Three Gorges Project