The World and Its People

Chapter 23: China and Its Neighbors

Web Activity Lesson Plans

Introduction
China's Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River will be, when completed, the largest hydroelectric power plant in the world. Although the dam has great potential for meeting China's energy needs, its construction has raised many doubts and drawn criticism from people in China as well as from around the world. In this activity, students will learn more about this enormous construction project, and they will be able to judge for themselves whether the environmental and social consequences are worth the potential benefits.

Lesson Description
Students will visit CNN.com's Web site about China's Three Gorges Dam to learn more about this enormous construction project. They will answer four questions about the objectives and consequences of the dam, and will then research to compare Three Gorges Dam to another major hydroelectric plant around the world.

Instructional Objectives

1. Students will be able to summarize the history and objectives of Three Gorges Dam.
2. Students will be able to explain the possible environmental and social consequences of Three Gorges Dam.

Student Web Activity Answers

1. Sun Yat-sen is credited with first proposing the idea of a dam in 1919. It is expected to be finished in 2009.
2. Officials hope that the dam will be an important source of energy for China's growing electrical needs, that it will control flooding of the Yangtze River, and that it will improve navigation inland.
3. There is concern that toxic materials will leach into the reservoir and that waste run-off from surrounding communities will flow into the reservoir and then into the Yangtze. Some believe that the dam will cause pollution from industrial and residential sources to concentrate in the river rather than be flushed out at sea. There are also claims that the dam will actually contribute to the silt accumulation in the Yangtze, rather than allow larger ships to travel the river.
4. The dam will flood more than 100 towns and force the relocation of 1.2 million people. The land to which people will be relocated is much less fertile than the land that will be flooded. Archaeologists and historians have estimated that nearly 1,300 sites also will disappear.
5. Students' charts may vary.