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Can this dream be fulfilled? By all accounts, it won't take long before the harvest keeps flowing in. The famous Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River will be an important element in the fulfilling of this dream. The construction of the dam began in 1994 and may be the largest single construction project in the world. When completed, in 2010, every facet of life in China will be uplifted. The historic sequence of flood disasters in which hundreds of thousands of people have died, will never occur again. In the last flood disaster alone 33 million hectares of farmland was flooded, 800,000 houses were destroyed, 2.8 million homes were damaged, and 1000 people were killed. This danger will become eliminated in 2010. The dam will also provide hydroelectric power. It is estimated that approximately 85 terrawatt-hours/year (the equivalent capacity of 13 normal nuclear power plants combined) will be produced. It will be the most powerful hydroelectric producer in the world.
The dam will also enhance shipping, rather than hinder it. A five level system of locks is included, that will lift ships up to 10,000 tons in weight, and make the river navigable right to the door steps of the city of Chongquin, reducing shipping costs to that city by two thirds.
The reservoir behind the dam will likewise be huge. It will supply a canal system that is yet to be built, that will open up the dry regions of the north for farming. This adds an area larger than the entire territory of Germany to the food production capacity of the nation. Nor is this the only such project under consideration. Further developments, which may begin fairly soon, of the Yangtze River, the Yellow River, and the Pearl River will feed irrigation canals that will irrigate the Gobi Dessert and turn it into a flowering garden.
While the West has been stirred into a frenzy of protest against these projects (by the same oligarchy of the same empire that had launched war after war to prevent large scale economic development, anywhere on the planet, that might compromise its dominance), one must admit that certain points of the environmentally oriented charges are true. Projects of this magnitude do alter the natural environment of vast regions. Indeed, they do. They will make the environments of these regions more biologically productive, more inhabitable for human populations, and may even add to the moisture in the air to bring rain to other normally arid and biologically dormant regions. It will also change the social environment from an experience of food-deficiency into an experience of food-surplus that is reflected in a momentous upgrading in the quality of available food supplies, such as meats, fruits, and certain vegetable.
The vast development momentum has already changed China, even though the big projects are far from completion. "Things have changed," writes Doug Casey in his financial newsletter after a recent trip to China, "and not just in Beijing and other big cities. Out in the farthest boondocks there are restaurants in villages that are barely big enough to have a name; all along the two lane truck routes we drove there were probably hundreds of new buildings, housing, new restaurants, in the middle of nowhere." He writes, "We stopped at a few, including the poetically named 'Drink Too Much, Have Excellent Happiness Inn,' and the food was uniformly excellent. If you stay away from the delicacies, which drive up the price, an excellent meal with beer can generally be had for around $2 a head."*(Doug Casey's International Speculator - January 1997 - newsletter)
It must also be noted that the vast development effort of China does not stop at its borders. China is firmly committed to the idea of an Eurasian Land Bridge development. The Eurasian Land Bridge that connects China with Europe, via an 11,000 km rail link through Iran and Turkmenistan was completed in May 1996. With the transportation link established, the surrounding areas become economically accessible for development.
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