Due to the persistent vessel traffic passing through the shiplocks, the Three Gorges Navigation Authority arranged that from 6:00p.m. on January 6 to 24:00 on January 8, the northbound shiplock of the Three Gorges Dam would switch to operating in the opposite direction to quickly alleviate the backlog of vessels at the upstream area of the dam. It is the first time this year that the northbound ship lock of the Three Gorges Dam has implemented a directional switch. (Correspondent/Peng Qiang)