The Yangtze River is China’s longest river, and the third largest in the world. More commonly known among the Chinese as the Chang Jiang, or the 'long river', the Yangtze is the lifeblood of northern China but also its greatest source of grief.

Since time immemorial, floods along the Yangtze have flattened towns and killed millions along its banks. To control the Yangtze’s seasonal floods China began constructing the Three Gorges Dam in 1994, a project of monumental proportions.

Built just west of Yichang in the province of Hubei, the Three Gorges Dam will be the largest dam in the world when it is due to be completed in 2009. The dam will be more than 2km long and almost 200m high, and will feature a reservoir with a capacity of more than 31 billion cubic metres.

Not only will the dam control flooding, it will help to improve navigation along the Yangtze and provide immense hydroelectric power to the surrounding regions – experts expect it to create as much power as 18 nuclear power plants.

However, the huge construction project is not without its critics. Some 60,000 hectares of land will be fully submerged by the project, including 160 towns and 16 archaeological sites. Along with the potential destruction of important sites of historical and cultural value, more than 1m Chinese will have been displaced and have to be resettled by the end of the project.