Tips for Reading: The former Chairman Mao Zedong inspected the Three Gorges Dam by a cruise named Jiangxia on March 30th, 1958. Gezhouba Water Control Project was called as 330 Project and the headquarters was named “330 Project Headquarters”, which is the initial name of the Gezhouba Group.
The Gezhouba Water Control Project was designed, manufactured, constructed and installed all by China. The whole project is a huge one consisting of 100 million cubic meters of earth digging and filling that was originally removed and 10 million cubic meters of concreting. The installation of metal structure and permanent equipment reached about 150 thousand tons. The project broke over 100 hydropower construction records in China at that time, which symbolizes that China has become a new world power in large hydropower construction. Gezhouba Project also lays a foundation for the construction of the Three Gorges Project.
Thanks to the flood control and power generation of Gezhouba Dam and the Three Gorges Project, Yichang has been a prosperous city which is a dream of Chinese people.
Yichang together with the cities downwards along the Yangtze River suffered from frequent floods for thousands of years.
Sun Yat-sen proposed the idea of constructing the Three Gorges Project in his book International Development of China in 1918, and this idea was also implied in Mao Zedong’s poem “To hold back Wushan\'s clouds and rain till a smooth lake rises in the narrow gorges”. Why was Gezhouba Project started before the Three Gorges Project? What changes did the decisions and construction of Gezhouba Project go through? How did Premier Zhou Enlai turn the tide?
This epoch-making project has been recorded into history. While the Three Gorges Project attracts visitors from home and abroad with its charm, Gezhouba Dam stays quiet and mysterious.
This summer in 2014, our journalist visited Gezhouba Group and unveiled the history that so many constructors devoted their lives to the construction of the Gezhouba Dam.
I
The plan of Gezhouba Water Control Project started in the late 1950s. As dozens of people in the central leadership were concerned about it during its 18 years construction, therefore, Gezhouba was born to be a great project.
In the winter of 1970, Gezhouba Project was about to start but the central government did not show their approval. Huang Huaping (who is now the deputy general manager of Gezhouba Group), the secretary of Lian Ronglu (director of Gezhouba Engineering Bureau) and Ren Shangqin, supervisor of technology business (who is now the deputy general engineer) went to Beijing with a delegation and reported to the State Council on their design and preparations of the construction work. They also got suggestions from former Premier Zhou Enlai.
Mr Zhou listened to the report of Gezhouba Project and made important instructions in the Zhongnanhai State Council Conference Hall from 17:55 to 21:05 on December 16th.
As a member of the delegation, Huang Huaping attended the conference and was asked take notes. It was his first time to attend such an important conference held by Premier Zhou, so he was excited.
It shows in his notes that Premier Zhou entered the hall at 17:55 and looked at the wall map first and then the conference hosted by Premier Zhou started at 18:00. “Who is in charge of the design? Who from Water and Power Department has joined the design work?” Premier asked them to take seats at the front. Then he read The Instruction on Gezhouba Hydropower Project written by Hubei Revolutionary Committee, asked questions and took notes carefully.
Sanmenxia Water Control Project taught us a lesson on sedimentation problems, about which the Premier showed his great concern.
Huang recorded that the Premier had raised as many as 23 questions involving such aspects as hydrology, geology, sedimentation, navigation, power generation, the influence on the Three Gorges Project while building Gezhouba, as well as design, construction, equipment, gate, design, manufacturing and installation of hoist, flood control and safety on Jingjiang Dike etc. The delegation answered the questions respectively. Throughout the whole conference, Huang kept taking notes of 20 pages.
The Premier told the delegation that the Three Gorges Project and Gezhouba Project couldn’t be constructed at the same time because the situation at that time were not proper and the Fourth Five-year Plan said so, too. He continued, “Gezhouba Project has been listed into national key projects and it has been approved at the Planning Meeting. We only approved to build up project, but not to invest 1.3 billion RMB for the construction. Your design work has to be very reliable and safe, and careful. Gezhouba Project will be written in the history of the CPC, so I will write report to Chairman Mao.”
It was dinner time after the meeting. Premier Zhou joked, “Since you are from Hubei Province, I’d like to invite you to taste the soup with fish head and tofu (which was a popular dish in Hubei).”
Premier Zhou Enlai reported to Chairman Mao that he thought it was feasible to build Gezhouba Project in Fourth Five-year Plan. “After accumulation of hydraulic tests and analysis through geological exploration, and hydrology records during the past ten years, the data they provided is reliable, which can be designed and improved during the construction.” “I agree to build the dam. Not all the documents are practical since we will come across problems that we cannot imagine now during the process. Then we need to revise our design.” Two days after Mr Zhou’s report, namely December 26th, Chairman Mao gave important instructions on the construction of Gezhouba Water Control Project.
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China approved Request for the Instructions on Gezhouba Water Control Project written by Wuhan Military Region and the Hubei Revolutionary Committee. The approval indicates “The Construction of Gezhouba Water Control Project is making preparations, step by step as planned, for the blueprint of ‘Till a smooth lake rises in the narrow gorges’ .” “You can immediately start making preparations for the construction. Geheyan Project will temporarily stop for battle of annihilation, so all the investment for this year will be transferred to Gezhouba Project.”
All the members of the Hubei delegation were too excited to sleep on hearing the great news.
The project, on the one hand, will solve the conflict on power supply between industry and agriculture. On the other hand, it can also make practical preparations for the Three Gorges Project. That’s why the Central Commitee decided to start Gezhouba Project.
This voice from Zhongnanhai became so encouraging and echoed throughout the whole country.
Under the guidance of Premier Zhou Enlai and Vice Chairman Li Xiannian, a construction army of 70,000 people organized by the Department of Water and Power, Wuhan Military Region and leadership from Provincial Party Committee was established.
The constructors from all over the country seized the chance to serve our motherland. One of the constructors, Li Maoqing who came from Dan Jiangkou joined the construction of Gezhouba Project at the age of 31. Although he is retired, he still remembers what Mr Zhang Ti(the Governor of Hubei Province) said at the mobilization meeting on November 23th, 1970, “Dear comrades of Danjiang, we will get old in Hanjiang River and die in Yangtze River; we will keep working as long as we still breathe.” We can see the determination and great ambition of the constructors.
On December 30th, 1970, the army and civilians got together and celebrated the ground breaking of Gezhouba Water Control Project along Sanjiang River in Yichang, which turned a new page in the history of water conservancy and hydropower construction in China.
II
During that special period of time, the Gezhouba Water Control Project began under the guideline of “Exploration, Design, and Construction”.
Kong Xiangqian, the former chief engineer of Gezhouba Group Corporation recalled “Although we had some accomplishments in the initial stage of the Gezhouba Project, we still encountered quantities of technical problems, such as navigation, siltation, engineering geology, energy dissipation and the river closure, which made the construction hard to continue.”
On June 23, 1971, at the conference hall of State Department with the agency directors, Premier Zhou Enlai listened to the reports about the layout and modification of Gezhouba Water Control Project.
Regarding the reports, Premier Zhou said that the Gezhouba Water Control was a giant project on the Yangtze River, which was so complicated that it required continuous modification so as to get it running smoothly.
Although Premier Zhou was not in good health, he still hosted the meeting to listen to the reports from the Department of Water and Power and from the comrades of Hubei Province on November 8, 9th and 21st in 1972. The theme of the meeting was to implement the written instructions of Chairman Mao, to modify the design of the project, and to work out the program of saving the Gezhouba Water Control Project.
After listening to the reports, Premier Zhou made a decision that the main part of the project should stop for two years in order to get it redesigned, rectified, as well as to make construction preparations.
Premier Zhou stressed that we should draw the serious lessons from the Sanmenxia Gorges Project. Problems which were caused by the waterway sediment, geological aspects, dam axis, Erjiang River Persion sluice scour and the Pision closure and the large mechanic cal and electrical equipment should be paid special attention to. Furthermore, Premier Zhou decided to set up a Gezhouba Technical Committee of nine members. Mr Lin Yishan, director of Yangtze River Basin Planning Office was the group leader of the committee and was directly responsible for the State Department.
Premier Zhou said to Mr LinYishan, “If you construct the Gezhouba Project successfully, that means you have made great contributions to CPC. It is extremely meaningful to construct the Dam on Yangtze River. As for this program, I am tremendously cautious.” Premier Zhou’s decisions facilitated the smoothness of the Gezhouba Water Control Project. He said, “the Gezhouba Water Control Project is the first dam of the Yangtze River. We should skillfully solve the problems here in case of committing the same potential mistakes as in Three Gorges Dam. Premier Zhou always cared about Gezhouba Project though he was in bad health condition. He said repeatedly, “we should devote ourselves to constructing the project well, and then we can have a clear conscience to the people and the Party.”
III
During the shut-down time of the main part of the Gezhouba Water Control Project, the design of the project was revised, the construction team became more professional, the ancillary works were improved by transferring from being out-dated to modernized. Meanwhile, the decision-makers and the builders concerned about whether and when the project could resume. Mr Kong Xiangqian, the chief engineer expected that the project would restart as soon as possible.
Mr. Kong Xiangqian said that although quantities of scientific researches and experimentations had been implemented, the design program had been amended; the preliminary work for construction had been modified during the shutdown period. Still a number of people with different opinions doubted about the important technical problems.
Mr. Gu Mu, the director of the National Construction Committee came to the construction site for inspection and collected the opinions of the people in July 1974. He inspected the conditions on the construction site in order to make the decision whether the project could restart again or not. After hearing their reports and discussions, Mr Gu Mu said the Gezhouba Water Control Project was ready to run again.
In September the same year, the National Construction Committee convened a symposium in Beijing, working out the comprehensive briefing to make sure the conditions were qualified for the reconstruction of the project in the fourth quarter. That fastened the reconstruction of the Gezhouba Water Control Project.
In October 1974, Premier Zhou ratified that the reconstruction of the main part of Gezhouba Water Control Project would begin on 20th October, 1974.
The resumed construction encountered many new problems and difficulties. Consequently, before 1977, the construction continued on and off.
The well educated young man, Mr. Chen Heping, a driller, recalled that the period from the winter of 1976 to the spring of 1977 was the hardest time of the construction site. In those days, the “Gang of Four” had just been overthrown, everything in China needed to be rebuilt. What was worse, there was heavy snow; everywhere there was a shortage of electricity.
He said that as soon as the air compressor started, the tripping operation stopped working. The living conditions were hard. Without no power supply, the water could not be taken up to the mountain. Because the workers did not have the air drill, they had to use the steel chisel to dig cannon holes. In normal conditions it took only one hour to drill cannon holes with the diameter 50 mm, 2 m in depth with a big rig, but now it took three to five men a whole day to drill one. All these difficulties caught CPC Central Committee’s great attention.
In 1977, the Vice-Chairman Li Xiannian emphasized in the Central Working Conference that, “we should speed up the project’s construction.” He stressed repeatedly that we should supply for the Gezhouba Project.
The Department of Water and Power and the National Construction Committee submitted the reports on speeding up the construction of the Gezhouba Project to the State Council in succession. The central leaders including Mr Gumu gave great support to the reports which put the funds, material, and the equipments for the project into practice.
The concern from the central leadership greatly inspired the Gezhouba Dam builders. With the design conditions becoming much better, the construction was operated smoothly and swimmingly.
IV
Quality is the life of project.
However, during the construction, many problems accured due to the speed up.
A letter was sent to Vice-president Li Xiannian, in which come from Zeng Guang (a technician of the Department of Project in the Yangtze River Basin) reported the quality problem of Gezhouba Project.
Mr. Li Xiannian, twice in a month, gave serious criticism to this behaviour, and said, “I hope that you will take Zeng Guang’ s letter seriously. Check it immediately and write a report. You must emphasis that quality first, because the matter of quality is closely related to lives of generations and it is a crime if any problem of quality occurs.” Mr. Li Xiannian wrote instructions to Qian Zhengying\\Du Xinghuan\\Han Guang and Chenpixian on 8th July.
Vice Chairman Gumu also gave his instruction, “Send someone to check the problem as soon as possible.”
On 26th July, Mr. vice-chairman Chen Yun sent a letter to Li Xiannian, in which he wrote, “In respect of the quality of Gezhouba Project, no carelessness is allowed. I am afraid you are too busy to read it, so I have the letter sent to you.”
On 29th,Li Xiannian gave instructions to Qian Zhengying and said, “Please get this letter transmit to Chen Yun.” Actually, Mr. Li Xiannian has sent the instructions to Qian Zhengying\\Du Xinghuan and Chen Pixian on the Foundry Proof of Civil Status No. 1219 in Xinhua News Agency on 27th July, in which he wrote, “The Foundry Proof of Civil Status reflects the problems of the construction and the progress of Gezhouba Project. we should check it carefully and couldn’t leave it alone. Otherwise we will make huge mistake, the Party and the people is absolutely not allowed…so great is the Gezhouba Project that we have a significant responsibility to get the problem checked. Otherwise, we will make huge mistakes. The party and the people absolutely won’t allow this to happen. So large is the Gezhouba Project that we should take it seriously.
In October of the same year, after reading the 128 Issue of “Gezhouba Bulletin”, Li Xiannian wrote a letter with a hot slice of expectation on the Committee Party and all the staff of Gezhouba Engineering Bureau, “So great is the Gezhouba Project that we must stick to the quality first with high standard and strict requirements. The project is the first of its kind in the history of Hydropower in China, which is also the historical responsibility that the party and the people entrusted us.” “We must ensure its high quality all the time. The Gezhouba Project is a plan of vital and lasting importance, meanwhile, we must also take the quality seriously, otherwise endless troubles and disasters will follow. China is rich in water resources; hundreds of hydropower stations are waiting for us to construct and lots of challenging and demanding power stations are to be built. The Gezhouba Dam is one of them. To build such stations, a team of builders are required to be politically trusted, technically competent, quality conscious and managerially qualified.
The central leadership emphasis of the project quality, which alerted all the people in the central of Gezhouba. The people kept the leaders’ warning in mind and put the project’s quality as priority unswervingly. They were determined to construct a top level dam and project.
A promise is weightier than one thousand bars of gold, the constructors of the dam handed in a very satisfactory paper. On 10th July, a once-in-a hundred-year flood peak in Yangtze River went through the Gezhouba Dam. In 1998, the Gezhouba Water Control Project withstood a high flood peak test of Yangtze River.
V
A great many central leaders have devoted their painstaking efforts and sweat to the Gezhouba Dam Project. And their wise and strong leadership can be also seen through the project.
Since 1979, some leaders such as Ye Jianying, Wang Renzhong, Deng Xiaoping, Bo Yibo, Wang Zhen, Peng Zhen, Wan Li, Hu Yaobang, Hu Qili, Yao Yilin, Qiao Shi, Rong Yiheng, Li Peng, Liao Hansheng, Yang Shangkun, Deng Yingchao and so on have inspected the Gezhouba Dam.
The Gezhouba Dam Project ushered in the most exciting moment on January 4,1981. It was on that day that the river closure dike achieved the successful closure, which became a great feat in the history of China’s water conservancy and hydropower construction.
The closure also changed the fate of the world\'s third longest river in that the Yangtze River had a historic turning point.
Gezhouba Water Control Project was Pided into two stages. The first stage of the construction was completed, which accomplish the river closure, water storage and navigation came into reality. Furthermore, the first unit also began to generate electricity in the Erjiang River Hydropower Station during that time. Since then, a new chapter has been turned over in history, and people have began to benefit from the Yangtze River.
On January 3,1989, the Xinhua News Agency reported that the Gezhouba Water Control Project on the Yangtze River had been completed, which marks the largest water conservancy project in our country.
It took 18 years to construct the great water conservancy project.
The Lanjiang Dam is 2.5 kilometers long. But the amount of concrete is over 2 million cubic meters, larger than that of Grand Coulee Hydroelectric Power Station, the latter of which is recorded in the Guinness World Records. The Gezhouba Dam sets up 3 navigation locks. The first navigation lock is built on the Dajiang River and the other two are constructed on the Sanjiang River, which can make the ten-thousand-tonnage fleet pass at one time. The first navigation lock is as high as 20 stories, which ranks the biggest among the similar units of the world. Each door of the lock weighs 600 tons, equivalent to 12 stories high. Therefore, it is called “the First Door of the World”.
Gezhouba Dam hydropower station was the largest power station at that time in our country, with the installed capacity of hydropower 2.715 kilowatts, which ranks the third among the world run-off-river stations. The station has a large amount of power generation and the annual power generation is up to 15.7 billion kw/h, which means to save 10.2 million tons raw coals every year. So the full project investment was regained in the end of 1989, only relying on the power generation.
The backwater of Gezhouba Dam reservoir ranges from 110 kilometers to 180 kilometers, which submerges 21 rapids and 9 hazardous rapids of the Three Gorges. Therefore, the single-way channel and 9 warping stations have been canceled and the channels have been greatly improved. So different kinds of vessels under the Badong (a county of Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Region) can pass unimpeded. The volume of passengers and freight of the Changjiang River has increased, too.
Most importantly, Gezhouba Dam Project offers lots of valuable experience to the construction of Three Gorges Project. As the golden team of Gezhouba water conservancy constructors performs outstandingly in the construction of Three Gorges Project, it has been invited to join a number of international projects by their counterparts. It dedicates much wisdom and strength to the cause of water conservancy and hydroelectric power.
Some people might think that after the Three Gorges Project became the unique century engineering, the so-called “first dam of the Yangtze River”--Gezhouba Dam wouldn’t have much more influence any more.
Nowadays, when we look back the history, it is no doubt that the design level and the construction technique of Gezhouba Water Control Project can represent the latest achievements of our current hydropower construction. Furthermore, they are regarded as the milestone in the history of China’s water conservancy and hydropower construction.
The Gezhouba Water Control Project will continue to attract worldwide attention no matter in the past, present, or future.
Additional words: the passage written above gained much support of some leaders from China Gezhouba Group Company Limited. And lots of previous leaders who witnessed the construction of Gezhouba Dam as well as many constructors also provided much help. Let me take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude to all of them!
Thanks go to the following contributors, Xiong Ying (deputy officer of the department of CPC committee in CGGC), Du Boyang (deputy section chief of Department of Human Resource).