The current appearance of these cultural relics | Don’t say that the Three Gorges are dangerous, they are safe every year

In the past, when people talked about the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River, what impressed them the most? One word: danger!

Look, Li Daoyuan said in his "Water Classic": "In the 700-li Three Gorges, the two banks are connected by mountains, with almost no gaps. The mountains are piled up one after another, blocking out the sky and the sun. Unless it is midnight, the sun and the moon cannot be seen..." Du Fu wrote: "The Baidi is high and guards the Three Gorges, and the Qutang is more dangerous than Bailao Pass"; and Li Bai wrote: "Wushan is between the blue sky, and the Bashui River flows like this"...

The Three Gorges of the Yangtze River start from Baidi City in Chongqing in the west and end in Yichang, Hubei in the east. It consists of three sections of the river with steep peaks and cliffs: Qutang Gorge, Wu Gorge and Xiling Gorge, stretching for 193 kilometers.

Because of the danger, the Yangtze River has been regarded as a dangerous road by boat operators for thousands of years. Because of the danger, floods are frequent, and people often become fish and turtles. As early as the Western Han Dynasty, historical books began to record floods in the Yangtze River. In the more than 2,000 years since then, there have been 214 recorded major floods!

How can we turn the Yangtze River flood disaster into a water benefit? In all peaceful times, rulers racked their brains. However, they could only sigh in vain.

It was the founding of New China that turned the people's wishes for thousands of years into reality. In 1953, Comrade Mao Zedong presided over a discussion on flood control in the Yangtze River. Pointing to the location of the Three Gorges on the map, he asked proudly: "Why not block it at this main opening?" Three years later, he traveled along the Yangtze River and wrote the magnificent poem "The stone wall of the West River stands, the clouds and rain of Wushan are cut off, and the high gorge leads to a flat lake."

Through discussions, research and overcoming difficulties, the construction of the Gezhouba Project, as part of the Three Gorges Project, started in 1970. On December 14, 1994, the Three Gorges Project officially started construction. On November 1, 2020, the project completed the overall completion acceptance and was declared fully completed.

In midsummer, the reporter took a boat to the Three Gorges Reservoir area for an interview. There were endless blue waters and steep rocks on both sides. When we arrived at Xiling Gorge, we saw a giant reinforced concrete dragon leaping out of the vast river, lying majestically, with great momentum. Streams of turbulent water rushed out from the "dragon's body", rushing straight into the sky and then suddenly falling into the river, with a sound like thunder.

Leaving the boat on the shore, strolling along the 185-meter-high Three Gorges Dam, and watching the surging river water below the dam, you will suddenly feel the grandeur of "clouds rising from your chest". Li Shuai, deputy director of the Reservoir Management Department of the Three Gorges Group Basin Management Center, took reporters on a tour and introduced: "The dam, power station, navigation buildings, Maopingxi protection project... every step is full of hardships and struggles! Why did the project take so long to build? It is to ensure that it is foolproof and can stand the test of history."

Talking about water control, Li Shuai opened up: "Every Chinese will never forget the devastating flood of the Yangtze River in 1998. At that time, the Three Gorges Project was still under construction. The builders made a vow: to build the dam with high quality so that such pain will never happen again! In 2010, 2012, and 2020, severe floods occurred in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. Among them, the maximum flood peak in 2020 reached 75,000 cubic meters per second, exceeding the maximum flood peak in 1998. Relying on the Three Gorges Reservoir to intercept floods and stagger the peak, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River are calm."

The reporter checked the data: from water storage to the end of August 2020, the total flood control volume of the Three Gorges Reservoir exceeded 180 billion cubic meters. The middle and lower reaches of the river have been safe every year, especially the flood control capacity of the Jingjiang section has been significantly improved. The saying "The danger of the Yangtze River lies in the Jingjiang River" has become history from then on.

Looking down from the dam, the Three Gorges ship lock is very busy. "The ship lock has a height difference of 113 meters. Large and small cargo ships passing through the lock have to climb over the height of a 40-story building. In order to allow the ships to pass as quickly as possible, we let 'big ships climb stairs and small ships take elevators' - the 'stairs' are double-line five-level ship locks, and the 'elevator' is a ship lift." Zhang Yan, deputy director of the hub management department of the Three Gorges Group Basin Management Center, said that to build the world's largest inland river ship lock with the most continuous levels, the highest water head and the most complex operating conditions, the construction workers flattened 18 hills and set many world records.

"From the opening of navigation in June 2003 to June this year, the Three Gorges Ship Lock has been operated 180,000 times, with more than 950,000 ships passing through, more than 1.7 billion tons of cargo passing through the lock, and 12.24 million passengers. A fleet of 10,000 tons can also pass through unimpeded. 'Since ancient times, there has been no night navigation on the Yangtze River.' Now, the wheels are busy day and night for thousands of miles." Zhang Yan's words were full of pride.

The entire dam area is like a garden: rows of green trees reach tall and far away from each other, while patches of lawns and flower beds compete with each other in beauty, which is refreshing.

In the observation room, the reporter found Li Bo, a senior engineer of the Aquatic Ecology Research Laboratory of the Environmental Engineering Center of the Three Gorges Group. "Some people are worried that the completion of the Three Gorges Dam will affect the ecology of the Yangtze River. In fact, this is unnecessary. We have been making great efforts to protect the fish resources of the Yangtze River. Since 1984, we have increased the number of rare and unique fish in the Yangtze River and released more than 10 million rare and unique fish of various types into the Yangtze River. Take the Chinese sturgeon as an example - as a weather vane of the Yangtze River ecology, we have long broken through the full artificial breeding technology and have organized 65 release activities. Not long ago, more than 200,000 were released at one time. The plants in the Three Gorges have also been effectively protected, increasing from 560 species to 1,300 species." Li Bo said excitedly, and the reporter was happy to hear it.

Before I knew it, it was already dusk. On my way home, I walked to the "Zhixi" Yangtze River Bridge, and I couldn't help but feel moved: "Zhixi", wonderful!

"至喜" comes from Ouyang Xiu's "７州至喜亭记". "After leaving the gorge, the river begins to flow smoothly. So the boatmen who reach this point must pour wine and bow to each other to congratulate each other, thinking that they are reborn." Back then, the boatmen went through life and death and rushed out of the dangerous gorge safely. It was like being reborn, which was the happiest thing in life.

Now, with the Three Gorges Dam, people traveling back and forth no longer have to endure the pain of the turbulence of the Sichuan River, and no longer have to suffer the threat of floods. Isn’t this the real “greatest joy” that this era has given to people?

(Reporter Xia Jing, correspondent Liu Zirong and Xu Dong)