Disembark after the Three Gorges Dam

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Geo: 30.7, 111.28

Had an interesting guide who loves the new President Xi. Xi has sacked a lot of corrupt civil servants and shows promise in taking meaningful steps to reduce the pollution problem.

The Three Gorges Dam was impressive, as is all of the major infrastructure we have seen. However, 1.3M Chinese were displaced due to the dam and generally they are not happy with their new lives. The dam's main purpose is flood mitigation, but it's turbines were also expected to produce 10%25 of energy needs. Due to China's boom, only 3%25 is produced and four new dams in the west are under construction to produce another 6%25.

Ship's WiFi is woeful so I've only been online once. I'll update the blog and check emails this evening in Shanghai.

Quick opportunity for blogging at the Yichang airport, waiting for our Shanghai flight...

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Photos

Three Gorges Locks
A pair of five-stage locks pass traffic up and down the Yangtze River. The height difference is 113m. A "ship elevator" has been built for smaller ships up to 3,000t, but the design was faulty and it's not yet in operation.

Three Gorges Dam
Hazy view of the ships elevator in the foreground.

President No.8
A farewell pic of the cruiser. The Chinese call "us" Big Noses, you can see why!