The Yangtze River is home to one of the most beautiful natural scenes of China - the Three Gorges. But for generations, Chinese people have long dreamed of taming the Yangtze River for power generation and flood control. The river's endless floods have brought destruction and death for centuries - 1 million deaths in the 20th century alone.

　　Nowadays, along the Yangtze River, the third longest river in the world, a great construction project, the Three Gorges Dam is in progress. Once completed, it will be the largest and most powerful hydro­electric project in the world. Towering 610 feet high and stretching 1.3 miles wide，the dam will create a reservoir that extends nearly 400 miles upstream thus changing the original landscape of this region.

　　The project has been under discussion in China since the idea of the dam was first put forward in 1919. The Three Gorges Dam is both a marvel of engineering and the greatest challenge its designers have ever faced. The Three Gorges Dam has been engineered to store over 5 trillion gallons of water and to withstand an earthquake of 7.0 on the Richter scale (里氏级)．In addition, the government says the dam will control terrifying floods and provide electrical power to China's growing cities.

Like China's Great Wall, it will be one of the few man­made structures that can be seen from space. The Chinese government and the dam's engineers think of the project as a symbol of national pride.,