Wuhan - a very big and important city. This is early morning from the window of a full 5 star hotel with mostly Chinese tourists

In 1991 there were 38 private cars in Beijing - now there are traffic jams averywhere

Two farm workers along the Yangtse. A poor agricultural area. Most labour is manual with few machines

Chongquing - reputedly China's largest city with 15 million people. This is slum type accomodation in the city centre but were unusual enough to be pictured

Chongquing city square full of people, ultra modern shopping malls and smiling children

You can see pictures of Tianemen square on other sites. This is a typical Sunday morning scene with people taking pictures. The atmosphere especially with "revolutionary" type music playing through speakers is electrifying

A typical ultra modern building in Beijing - one of many and many of the highest architectural merit
The pace and level of development is astounding

You can see pictures of Tianemen square on other sites. This is a typical Sunday morning scene (the only rest day). No picture can convey the vastness of the square. The building in the background is the People's Palace

Wushan on the Yangtse with typical cruise ships. Some are for tourists many are normal passenger ships. Wushan is popular as it is the jumping off point for the Lesser Gorges

Sampan on the Yangtse - not sure if people actually live on them

Shipbuilding Yangtse style. As you see these are large craft just built on the shore of the river. They will launch when the annual floods come. All this and the town will be under water when the dam is built

Coal drift mines on the riverbank.
A new town built above the dam resevoir level. Unfortunately it's all a waste as the coal workings have undermined the new town and especially when they are flooded with the dam - so the whole new town is to be demolished

The lesser Gorges. Here a walkway was cut in the cliff face 2000 years ago 300km long and carried an army

Zhongxian? another city to be drowned by the dam.

There are many pictures and commentaries available on the 3 Gorges Dam project (see next picture). The largest dam in the world. The world's largest construction project. The resevoir will be the world's largest, it will supply a staggering 15% of China's electrical power need. 1.25 million people will need to relocate

The 3 Gorges dam model - The dam is 2.5km wide.
Finding an objective web site is difficult. Below are 2 concise possibles.The first at least is by a Chinese person
http://www.eecs.uic.edu/~wwei/intro.html
http://www.europeaninternet.com/china/special/damkey.php3

This bridge in Wushan gives an idea of the scale of the dam resevoir level. The water will rise to the 185metre level asI have marked - just below the bridge road level. The bridge will be demolished

You can see many pictures of The Great Wall on other sites. This is a fragment with VERY steep and exhausting steps

A beautiful picture from another tourist in the party
Sunset on the river
Also in Backgrounds

Typical palace type architecture
Part of the Summer Palace Beijing with huge man made lake