1984 Trip on Yangzi - Chongqing to Shanghai

11. Yangzi River Temple

At many places on the river are temples, pagodas and ancient buildings. The rising waters will cover most of these when the dam is finished and the water rises. Some 1.5 million people will be displaced and be moved to new housing. This will not make everyone happy even though the government will pay for the relocation. On the plus side are two very important things, first flooding has been very costly in terms of human lives and housing lost. Secondly, there is a critical shortage of electricity in these areas. Flooding has occurred 11 times from 1931 to 1949. When we were there in 1998 some of the streets of Wuhan were 3-4 feet deep in water.