"A hundred years ago, when Dr. Sun Yat-sen proposed the Three Gorges idea, some people said it was a 'utopia.' When the Three Gorges project started thirty years ago, some people said, 'The Chinese cannot build such a large project.'"
On October 19, 2026, the opening ceremony of the online theme publicity event "Why China Shocks the World" was held in Yichang, Hubei. At the opening ceremony, Niu Xinqiang, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and chief scientist of Yangtze River Design Group, gave a speech that made many audience members wet their eyes.
Standing on the edge of the Xiajiang River and looking back, this old builder who has spent most of his life on the front line of the Three Gorges said slowly, "Today - the towering dam blocks the river, and the giant ship with thousands of sails sails the Xiajiang River."
The words fell loudly. This is the strong voice of the struggle of generations, and it is also the echo of a century-old project.
"After graduating from college, I have been working on the front line of the Three Gorges for more than 40 years. I have personally experienced the design, construction, operation and acceptance of the Three Gorges Project. I have witnessed a century project with my own eyes. The high gorge and Pinghu Lake are astonishing to the world."
As time goes by, the lines on the drawings are gradually transformed into majestic buildings standing on the Xiajiang River. Behind the project are countless technical barriers that ordinary people cannot imagine.
"Many people ask, what is the difficulty of the Three Gorges Project? It is an unprecedented super infrastructure that integrates engineering technology, millions of immigrants, ecological protection and other difficult problems. There is no precedent or experience in the world. All breakthroughs were made independently by Chinese builders."
The water level difference between the upstream and downstream of the Three Gorges Dam is more than 100 meters, which is equivalent to the height of dozens of stories. Large ships cannot directly climb over the dam. How to make the giant ship cross the height difference of 100 meters and travel through the canyon has become a world-class test question before designers. The young design team back then took a path that no one had ever walked before. They pioneered the first double-line five-level ship lock and built a "water staircase" for the river. From hydraulic calculation to metal structure, from excavation and molding to the stress of the bottom pivot, the entire system was independently researched.
The vicissitudes of life are briefly mentioned in Niu Xinqiang's description.
"Countless builders spent their youth on mountains and rivers and built dams with their pride. Finally, the long-cherished wish of the Chinese nation that has been pursued for hundreds of years has been realized in the hands of our generation."
Time is speechless, mountains and rivers are proof. The actual achievements are hidden in a group of figures: the total length of the Three Gorges Dam axis is 2,309.47 meters, setting 112 engineering world records, and possessing 934 invention patents; the Three Gorges Project has been used for flood control more than 70 times, with a total flood control capacity of more than 220 billion cubic meters. square meters; a total of more than 1.11 million ships have passed through the Three Gorges Ship Lock, and day and night navigation has rewritten the old chapter of "the Sichuan River has never sailed at night since ancient times"; the cumulative power generation of the power station exceeded 1.8 trillion kilowatt hours, spanning thousands of miles and lighting up thousands of lights in Central China, East China, Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao...
The grand engineering monument ultimately achieves visible and tangible effects on people's livelihood, such as flood control, shipping, and power generation.
The legend of a dam has not yet been written, but the horn of a new canal has already sounded. Just over four months ago, on June 8, 2026, the roar of machinery next to Taipingxi Pier in Yiling District, Yichang once again cut through the morning fog of the Xiajiang River - the first major national landmark project to be started during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, the new Three Gorges Water Transport Channel officially broke ground.
The Three Gorges Water Transport New Channel Project is the largest comprehensive project on the Yangtze River trunk line after the Three Gorges Project that integrates water conservancy, shipping, ecological and other functions. It consists of two parts: the Three Gorges Hub New Channel and the Gezhouba Shipping Capacity Expansion. Among them, the new channel of the Three Gorges Hub is located on the north side of the existing Three Gorges ship lock, and it is planned to build a new double-line continuous five-level ship lock. After completion, the Three Gorges Hub will form a four-line ship lock plus ship lift structure, with a total annual two-way throughput capacity of 336 million tons.
With a total static investment of 77.208 billion yuan, a navigable 10,000-ton ship, and a total construction period of 112 months, this super project is not only a refresh of the construction volume, but also a future-oriented system research. In the long process from idea to drawing, Niu Xinqiang was also one of the first people to sit at the drawing table.
After presiding over the design of the Three Gorges double-line five-level ship lock and the Three Gorges ship lift, he took the lead in the preliminary demonstration work of the new water transportation channel. Niu Xinqiang once said that data can best explain why new channels are needed. The golden waterway is "too busy." With the rapid development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, Yangtze River freight volume still maintains a steady growth trend. In 2025, the annual throughput of the Three Gorges Hub will exceed 170 million tons, exceeding 70% of the original design level.
"Based on the results of the feasibility study phase, it is predicted that the freight demand through the Three Gorges ship lock will reach 220 million tons and 250 million tons in 2035 and 2050. The Three Gorges Water Transport New Channel Project came into being." He said: "From the perspective of traffic pattern, the new channel is equivalent to upgrading the upper reaches of the Yangtze River from a 'two-lane' shipping lane to a high-standard 'multi-lane'. Not only does the number of navigation channels increase, but the level of suitable ships is also comprehensively improved."
From protecting the tranquility of great rivers to smoothing thousands of miles of waterways, the vision of great power projects has never stopped at the project itself. This veteran builder, who has been dealing with the waves of the Xiajiang River all his life, has set his sights further afield: "The new Three Gorges Water Transport Channel is not only an upgrade in navigation capacity, but will also comprehensively strengthen the strategic position of the Yangtze River Economic Belt as the core growth pole of the national economy. It will produce all-round, long-term, strategic and far-reaching value in transportation upgrades, economic empowerment, regional coordination, ecological development, industrial iteration, and the implementation of national strategies."
The confidence built up from decades of technical reserves made him determined to successfully build the new channel. This determination comes from independent research on key problems from scratch time and time again, and from the long-term respect for the laws of the Yangtze River. From a dam to a new canal, the topic is changing, but the core of answering the questions of the times remains the same.
The river wind swept through the venue, carrying the water vapor from the Xiajiang River, and fell on his white hair and frost-stained brows. Niu Xinqiang spoke slowly.
“Why China?”
"With centuries of exploration, we ask questions about the world; with independent innovation, we respond to the times; with a thousand years of achievements, we entrust our descendants with them."
The river never abandons day and night. From the first clarion call for the construction of the Three Gorges Project in 1994 to the first shovel of ground for the new channel in 2026, the same gorge river reflects the same pursuit. A dam protects Anlan, a new canal opens the way, and those ideas that were once called "Utopia" have long since turned into thousands of sails on the lake, continuing to rush towards the next "world-shaking difference".
