Here are several of the many thousands of huge industrial construction cranes located all across China; these are assisting in the construction of the Three Gorges Dam.

They are working on part of the lock system for raising ships up from the lower Yangtse to the future reservoir for upstream travel. The finished product will enable ocean-going vessels of up to 10,000 tons to quickly get up to the reservoir whose new depths will allow easy passage up to Chongqing.

It is hoped that the construction is sound in all phases, and that the feared environmental issues aren't realized. The problems of silting and pollution, however, appear to me to be almost assured of being ecological nightmares. The slowing of the waters during the dry season will undoubtedly increase the silting in the upstream approach to the dam and allow the pollutants to settle.