A Letter From Behind The Three Gorges Dam

Life behind the flooding of the world's largest dam is surreal.

1 minute read

July 2, 2003, 5:00 AM PDT

By Chris Steins @planetizen


"On new maps for the city of Wushan, this body of water is called Emerald Drop Lake. But the maps were printed before the lake appeared... The people knew that the flood was coming, but they did not know that it would come so fast... The new cities went through distinct stages of creation. In the beginning, the inhabitants were mostly young men: construction workers, bulldozer operators. Shops soon appeared, but they stocked almost nothing that you could eat or wear. They sold tools, windows, lighting fixtures. Once, in the new city of Fengdu, I walked down a half-built street where virtually everybody was selling doors. Women generally appeared once the local market economy took hold. After that, children materialized, and then the city was alive."

Thanks to ArchNewsNow

Tuesday, July 1, 2003 in The New Yorker

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