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China: Ancient Chinese heritage endangered along Yangtze River
Archeologists and historians believe that Chinese culture was born
along the banks of the Yangtze River, where recent excavations have
uncovered a vast historical record. In Zhongbaodao, a village near
Yichang in the Yangtze River valley, for example, archeologists have
revealed more than 200 ancient tombs filled with pottery, porcelain,
stoneware, and polished tools dating back at least 7,000 years; they
also unearthed a 3,000-year-old kiln from the Shang Dynasty. At
countless other sites along the river, scores of treasures have
emerged, from small, elaborately detailed jade jewelry to massive
stone temples such as an intricately carved, four-story stone temple
built during the Ming Dynasty in honor of General Khan Fei.
In 1993, the Chinese government simultaneously began the largest
archeological expedition ever undertaken in the country and the
largest hydroelectric dam in the world. The Three Gorges Dam project
on the Yangtze will provide power for industrial development,
reducing China's reliance on coal, and protect approximately 10
million people from periodic floods. Scheduled for completion in
2013, the dam, besides submerging cultural heritage, will also force
the relocation of likely more than one million people and damage the
ecosystem and scenery in the Yangtze's spectacular Three Gorges
region. Thousands of archeologists from China and other countries
will try to excavate more than 300 square miles of riverbank before
the dam's reservoir submerges them; teams will also dismantle and
relocate several important temples.
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