The mammoth project is located at Sandouping, Yichang City of Hubei Province. As the modern China's most ambitious construction, and one of the most controversial in the world, it took a steady and firm step to its completion from 1993, finally to 2009. The estimated investment is about US$29 billion.

More than 1 million people have been or will be relocated in other parts of the country. China's engineers have erected a permanent wall, nearly 600-feet high (185m), to harness the Yangtze, the world's third-longest river, and will provide a huge source of hydropower for the world's most populous nation. When the dam is complete, it will be capable of pumping out 18,200 megawatts of electricity from 26 generators, each equal to a medium-sized nuclear reactor. The Three Gorges Dam has now become one major excursion site of all the Yangtze cruises.