The gateway to the gorges is booming, but upstream residents are not happy
In the city of Yichang, a large sign proudly declares: 'Yichang rises out of the Three Gorges.'
Yichang is a company town and the firm in question - the Three Gorges Project Development Corporation - is building the world's largest dam nearby. As the gateway to the project, Yichang has reaped the benefits by hosting tens of thousands of workers as well as tourists travelling along the Yangtze river.
As one taxi driver said: 'Yichang wouldn't exist without the dam.'
Helped by geography and the government's decision to pour funds into the massive state project, Yichang has become a boom town.
Some residents complain that they have been left behind in the economic bonanza that has benefited the local government. However, signs of prosperity are evident: crowded restaurants, new department stores and neon-lit coffee shops.
The Three Gorges supplied the name of Yichang's main university, while the Yangtze river provides a local delicacy - a type of catfish called 'fat fish' by residents.
