China: Great Dragon Rising - Dragons and Tigers: A Geography of South, East and Southeast Asia - page 330

dioxide, and dust would be eliminated from the air. The
hydroelectric power is intended for use in the energy-
deficient eastern and central regions as well as in Sichuan
Province.
Shipping is expected to improve markedly and af-
fect Chongqing' s status as a zhixiashi. In effect, the city
would be tied to the Pacific Rim economy . However, its
greater fortunes would appear to lie westward with the
rapidly developing Sichuan Basin, a densely populated,
resource rich, agricultural, and industrial region virtu-
ally isolated by topography from the rest of China.
Chongqing might evolve as the most important growth
pole in China' s interior.
Between 1.2 and 1.9 million people have been forced
to leave their homes, and some 620,000 acres (248,000 ha)
of farmland have been lost. Approximately 8,000 cultural
sites and some 1,000 industrial enterprises have been inun-
dated, thereby contributing their pollution to the reservoir.
The Three Gorges Dam is extremely controversial.
Forced removal of people is seen by many as a human
rights issue. Although China claims that people are
treated fairly with appropriate compensation and special
privileges, many Chinese and others claim that resettle-
ment is racked with corruption and unfairness. Compen-
sation is inadequate, promised farmland is unproductive,
and guaranteed jobs do not exist.
Scientists are also concerned. Some fear that the
dam will ultimately collapse. In 1975, 62 dams in Henan
Province gave way , killing anywhere from 86,000 to
230,000 individuals. Disease and famine affected over
10 million in the aftermath. A Three Gorges flood would
be 40 times as great! Environmentalists claim that the
Yangzi River ecosystem will be irreversibly upset. The
Chinese alligator, the finless porpoise, and the Chinese
sturgeon will be severely endangered or even wiped out.
It is believed that the Yangzi white river dolphin is al-
ready extinct. Hydrologists postulate that sedimentation
will cause sewage backups and floods upstream around
Chongqing. Downstream, people worry about a lack of
silt for agriculture.
Another aspect worth consideration is the fact that
control of the dam by the northern power structure
means control over water supply to the south. Water
could be used as a weapon against any separatist move-
ments in the south.
The debate over the potential benefits and detri-
ments of the Three Gorges Dam project continues
around the world. Both the United States and the
World Bank elected to withdraw their support of the
project.

A Spark of Light at Rizhao

Buildings in Rizhao, a coastal city of nearly 3 mil-
lion on the Shandong Peninsula, are covered with
solar panels--that is, heat-collectors. Houses use
solar water heaters, and traffic lights are powered
by solar voltaic cells. More than 60,000 green-
houses employ solar heat. Even the school is heated
in winter—unusual in China. This achievement be-
came possible because of dedicated city officials
who cooperated with local solar industries in light
of a supportive national government policy . Wide-
spread use of solar energy has negated the need for
much coal, with the result that Rizhao is among the
top 10 of China' s cleanest cities. Consequently , the
city has drawn foreign investment, new residents,
tourists, and university professors who build retire-
ment homes.

Severe Acute Respiratory
Syndrome (SARS)

SARS is a highly contagious pneumonia-like disease that
infected more than 8,400 people and killed more than
800 worldwide between November 2002 and July 2003.
China was identified as the source of the disease and
topped the list of SARS hotspots with more than 5,300
cases and approximately 350 deaths during the nine-
month period. After the World Health Organization
(WHO) issued travel advisories and made concerted ef-
forts to halt the spread, the global outbreak was finally
contained in July 2003, though health experts caution
that it may be a seasonal disease and can return in cold
weather.
It is believed that SARS originated in Guangdong
in southern China. T Travelers quickly spread the disease
to Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam, Singapore, and as far
as Canada, South Africa, Australia, and Brazil. Asia was
hit the hardest, and T Toronto—a city with a large Asian
population and frequent travelers from and to Asia—
had the most cases outside Asia. The scope and speed
of the outbreak, unfortunately , is in large part ex-
plained by globalization. As China is increasingly con-
nected to the rest of the world, its influence is no
longer limited to global economic affairs but also in-
cludes health issues. Densely populated cities such as
Hong Kong and Singapore are most vulnerable to the