Chapter 129 Three Gorges Dam! Small boats take the elevator, large boats climb the stairs!

The next day, Chen Lu brought Anna to the Three Gorges Dam.

As an important milestone in China's infrastructure history, I must bring her to see it.

The staff checked their ID cards and the two of them entered the scenic area smoothly.

"Huh? Doesn't the scenic spot require a ticket?" Anna asked curiously.

"Of course not. The Three Gorges Dam is China's national treasure! Why would Chinese people need tickets to visit it?"

"But I'm a bear man, don't bear men need it?"

At the beginning, foreigners had to pay money.

The ticket price is 105 yuan per person.

Later, various countries collectively complained to China, saying that you are discriminating against people!
We are all human beings, why should Chinese people not charge money but foreigners should?
This is discrimination! Discrimination!
Later, there was no choice but to open it to foreigners for free in order to maintain international relations.

Chen Lu felt that it was totally unnecessary, as this was a national treasure that belonged to the Chinese people.

Foreigners can also sing the Chinese national anthem for free on the spot!
The Three Gorges Dam is a well-deserved national treasure and the greatest infrastructure project in nearly a hundred years.

It is like a huge barrier, spanning the canyon and firmly locking down the surging torrent of the Yangtze River.

The dam rises high into the clouds, majestic and tall, like a solid castle, guarding the peace of the Yangtze River.

Standing on the top of the dam, you can overlook the entire Three Gorges Reservoir area.

The wide water surface is sparkling, contrasting with the surrounding green mountains, and on both sides are steep cliffs, guarding this national treasure.

Anna was shocked when she first saw the Three Gorges Dam.

"What's that doing, dear?"

There is a large ship lock above the river, and the gate is opened for ships to enter.

one two three four. . .

Anna counted and found there were five gates in total!

Chen Lu smiled and said, "That is the five-level ship lock unique to the Three Gorges Dam."

The height of the Three Gorges Dam is 181 meters, and the normal water storage level is 175 meters, while the normal water level downstream is only more than 60 meters. This creates a rare vertical drop of 113 meters, which is equivalent to the height of more than floors!
If ships from downstream want to go upstream and cross a drop of hundreds of meters, they have to use these five-level locks.

The method adopted by China is called "small boats take the elevator, large boats climb the stairs."

This is not a joke, there really is an elevator!
The so-called elevator is a ship lift system.

When the boat stops on it, the boat lift will carry the boat up and up, just like taking an elevator!
All ships with a displacement of less than 3000 tons can be equipped with elevators.

This is also the largest and most technically difficult ship lift in the world.

It used to take at least three or four hours to pass through the Three Gorges Dam, but with the boat lift, it only takes forty minutes, greatly reducing the waiting time.

Ships weighing more than 3000 tons cannot use ship lifts, after all, their carrying capacity is limited.

Instead, you have to pass through five levels of locks.

Ships need to line up at the lock and enter in batches after the lock opens.

The lock is then closed and the water level inside rises. Once it reaches the specified height, the ship can enter the next level of lock.

Repeat this step until all gates are passed.

If ships upstream want to go downstream, it can just go the other way around.

The process may seem cumbersome, but it allows a cargo ship weighing tens of thousands of tons to easily drop over a dam hundreds of meters high.

[I thought he was joking, but can ships really climb the stairs?] [The design of this five-level ship lock is truly groundbreaking, allowing 10,000-ton cruise ships to go up and down straight!]

[The speed of passing is a bit slow. It actually took four hours? Half a day has passed! ]

[Is there a possibility that if you don't go through the lock, you will spend more time? ]

Such an ingenious five-level lock is extremely difficult to build.

In order to build the five-level ship locks of the Three Gorges Dam, engineers spent six years drilling through 6 mountains before finally digging out a 18-meter nearly vertical passage.

To prevent the channel from deforming or collapsing, workers used reinforced concrete to reinforce the main part of the gate chamber. At the same time, they drove 17 high-strength anchor rods and 4200 prestressed anchor cables with a length of 60 meters into the rock mass.

The mountain road is difficult to navigate, and this kind of anchor cable required 80 armed police soldiers to carry it from a factory 2.5 kilometers away!
After the anchor cables were transported over, the soldiers still needed to climb up a 50-meter-high scaffolding and little by little push the anchor cables, with a total length of 200 million meters, into the corresponding holes.

It took a full five years just to install the anchor cables!
Ten big characters are engraved on the hundred-meter cliff: Dedication to the Three Gorges, Military Might Strengthens China!

It is a true portrayal of what it was like when it was built.

The five-level ship lock has a total of 24 miter gates and is known as the best gate in the world!
The amount of cargo passing through the locks each year reaches more than 100 million tons, far leading the world.

In 1919, Mr. Sun proposed building a dam on the Yangtze River, which he believed would be extremely effective in flood control while also providing power generation.

As early as 1954, the country had included the Three Gorges Dam in its long-term plan.

However, due to technical and financial limitations, construction did not start immediately.

The design of the Three Gorges Dam began in 1984, but construction did not officially begin until 1994.

All projects are expected to be completed by 2020.

The Chairman even wrote a poem specifically for the Three Gorges Dam: Building a stone wall on the West River, cutting off the clouds and rain on Mount Wu, and a calm lake emerging from the high gorge!
[Just hearing these numbers, I can imagine how difficult the construction process was! ]

[To be honest, China's infrastructure capabilities are truly the best in the world! ]

[I admit that the Three Gorges Dam is indeed very good, but when I bring up the Hoover Dam, how will you respond? ]

[The Hoover Dam and the Three Gorges Dam are not good enough, our country's Inga Dam is the most powerful! ]

Anna asked curiously, the Three Gorges Dam must be the number one dam in the world, right?

She was really shocked. After all, there was no such majestic dam in Russia.

Chen Lu shook his head. If we really compare them, the Three Gorges Dam can only be considered the second largest dam, and the first one is really the Inga Dam.

[Hey, after all this bragging, it’s still just the second largest dam? ]

[This is so spectacular, but it’s not the best in the world? Who is the Inga Dam? 】

[If I remember correctly, it seems to be a water conservancy project in Africa? ]

[Wardafa? Isn't Africa very backward? How could it build the world's largest dam? ]

Chen Lu smiled slightly. The scale of the Yingga Dam was indeed larger than that of the Three Gorges Dam.

But is there a possibility that the Inga Dam was also built by China?
[Walter? Impossible, absolutely impossible! ]

[This Chinese boy is definitely bragging! ]

[It was also built by China? Does this mean that this world is a huge China? ]

Although foreigners don’t believe it, this is the fact.

When bidding for the Inga Dam, the Canadian construction team was the first to win the bid.

(End of this chapter)