A Japanese online user once asked: “The Three Gorges Dam is called China’s ‘lifeline.’ Why does no country dare to bomb it?”
This is an excellent question. China long ago made a statement at the United Nations: The Three Gorges Dam is a nuclear-protected project. Any attack on the dam in any form will be met with China’s nuclear counterattack, and the world map could be rewritten forever.
Today, the dam has been operating for 19 years. People around the world are curious: How long can the Three Gorges Dam really last?
Why the Three Gorges Dam Is Critical to China
Humans have evolved for over 100,000 years. We could survive without high-speed rail, without chips, even without electricity—but we cannot survive without water. Without water, humanity would go extinct in just five days.
But natural water distribution is extremely uneven. Some regions suffer severe floods, while others face extreme drought. For China, building large-scale water regulation projects was not a choice—it was a necessity.
Compared with developed countries, China’s water storage capacity used to be far behind. The United States has similar land area and river runoff, but its total reservoir capacity is 1.6 times that of China, and per capita reservoir capacity is six times higher.
The idea of the Three Gorges Dam was first proposed by Dr. Sun Yat-sen in 1919. After decades of planning, China officially approved the project in 1992. After more than 20 years of construction, the Three Gorges Dam was fully completed in 2009.
Before the dam, the Yangtze River’s middle and lower reaches faced deadly dry-season flows and dangerous floods. The Three Gorges changed everything. It supported Shanghai’s salt tide defense in 2014 and assisted rescue efforts during the 2015 Oriental Star shipwreck.
Although the dam generates massive amounts of electricity, its water regulation ability is irreplaceable.
The Real Lifespan of the Three Gorges Dam
Many online claim the dam can only last 50 to 70 years because “cement only lives that long.”
In 2018, a fake satellite photo spread online, claiming the dam was “distorted and deformed.” Many people used this to spread rumors.
The truth is simple: The photo was just a Google image stitching error. If the dam were truly deformed, it would have collapsed long ago. Today, it remains completely solid and safe.
The real design life of the Three Gorges Dam:
- Official designed lifespan: over 100 years
- With proper maintenance: 300–500 years
- Made with top-level fly ash concrete, not ordinary cement
Has the Three Gorges Dam Recouped Its Investment?
The total cost of the project was about 250 billion yuan.
By 2020, electricity generation alone exceeded 1.4 trillion kWh, creating revenue of over 360 billion yuan—already fully covering the construction cost.
Shipping volume also exploded. In the first half of 2020, freight volume passed 70 million tons, greatly reducing transportation costs and creating millions of jobs along the Yangtze River. Total economic benefits have surpassed 500 billion yuan.
More importantly, the Three Gorges Dam protects lives, supports farming, resists floods and droughts, and secures the livelihood of hundreds of millions of people.
Final Conclusion
The Three Gorges Dam is protected by China’s core national security. It is structurally solid, extremely durable, economically worthy, and vital to China’s future.
Rumors about deformation, short lifespan, or collapse are all false.
It is not only one of the greatest engineering wonders in the world but also China’s real lifeline.
0 Comments