WHEN first proposed in 1919 by the man revered as the founder of modern China, the audacious plan to dam the mighty, silt-laden Yangtze River sounded simple enough: 'Store water with a gate to enable ships to navigate and to exploit the water resources,' suggested Dr Sun Yat-sen in an article called Industry Plan.
Ever since, that modest proposal has since been studied, approved, reworked, rejected and revved many times over.
For the past two years, preliminary work has been under way: service facilities have been built and more than 10,000 residents have already been moved out of the dam construction site. More than a million others will eventually have to find new homes.
But now, finally, says Beijing, construction of the 185-metre high dam is 'about to begin'. Although officials hint privately that small delays are likely, they promise that workers will soon be pouring the first batches of concrete.
By the time they finish in 2009, China will have spent, by the most conservative estimates, 100 billion yuan (about HK$90.9 billion) and poured 27 million cubic metres of concrete to create one of the grandest infrastructure projects ever conceived.
Because of its sheer size and ambitiousness, Three Gorges draws inevitable comparisons with the Great Wall of China.