August 4th-Is there anything I can really say?

I slept on this blog. I am not sure what I can write that can really describe the Three Gorges. I dont think pictures even really can show the beauty of it. There are just these jagged peaks that sore out of the river. Often the peaks themselves are just sheer cliff faces, or the part of the mountain that hits the river is the cliff. These are 4,000 foot mountains we are talking about, so it is not just mere bumps in the road. I will have to post some pics when I return to the States to see if that can do the job that my words can not. (But if you want words, try doing an internet search-Chairman Mao himself used to write poems about the Gorges)
Everywhere along the river you see signs that simply say "175". This is what is believed the be the final height of what is fast becoming a 400 km lake as oppossed to the 3rd longest river in the world. There are no longer any homes really below this mark, as most of them were moved when the initially stage of flooding occurred a few years ago. But what one does see is farm land that is stil being worked that will disappear. In the current global food crisis, and in an improvished region such as this, that land is essential. But by the end of this year when the dam is coomplete and the river rises another 30 meters, it will be gone.
Unfortunately as we went through the gorges, the river guide on the boat kept a running commentary in both chinese and english which meant he was talking most of the time. But it was interesting to hear what I think can only be described as a bit of propoganda. Well, maybe. It seems like most of the Chinese really believe that the Three Gorgres Dam project is a good thing. The guide kept commenting on how navigable the river is now, which is true. And is a good thing for the most part. The amount of commercial traffic and shipping of goods on the river has increased. This has helped to lead to the boom of Chongqing. The guide also talked about flood control, which is a very good thing and in many ways was the really purpose of the dam. Electricity is a minor part of it. True, right now it supplies about 10% of China's energy. But in the next 20 years or so there are plans to build 4 more dams on the Yangzi. When they are done, the Three Gorges Dam will provide on 1% of China's energy. The guide also talked with great pride about the Neolithic sites that were found on the river banks, and almost off handly mentioned that they are now under water. There is a great amount of history that has been lost/will be lost in the flooding. One wonders if it is really all worth it for 1% of your energy needs.
The biggest part of the propoganda was in the last gorge. There is a poem inscribed on the wall from the Premier of China who greenlighted the project. The river guide says it was put there by the people of the local village because they are soooo behind the project. He then casually mentioned that the people of that village who have lived there for generations, were moved to a different village in a different province entirely. Imagine that all your family has now has been living on the river and fishing and living that lifestyle. This is how is has been for generations until the government tells you that you have to go for a a construction project.
At night, after going through part of the last gorge, we docked by the dam project itself. At night, it didnt look that impressive. I would find out the next day that its not even the biggest dam in the world (thats the Anwar Dam in Egypt) but it has the biggest locks and given all the other stuff being built around it, it is the biggest construction project in the world. Docking sucked because I was fancying a british girl, and when the boat started to pull in they sounded the horn, and that just kind of killed the mood entirely. Boo to the captain on that one.