The Three Gorges Dam, covering 12.8 square kilometers, has now been totally afforested.
The former construction site of the Three-Gorges Project has become a picturesque and environmentally-friendly ecological park, where the control of soil erosion has reached China's top standard.
The beauty of the dam comes from the persistence of workers who have been working there for 30 years.
During the construction of the dam, builders integrated the concept of water and land conservation into the project's management and operation, and improved the ecology of the construction site.
Since the dam was first used, workers have improved its environment by adhering to the new development philosophy in the building of many exhibitions and the conservation of forests and water at different levels according to the conditions of different areas.
In recent years, dam builders have integrated the concepts of ecological waste disposal, water recycling and the building of sponge cities. They have built a rain water and sewage ecological wetland in the West Park for the purification of waste water that comes from sewage disposal facilities. The water is then used to irrigate the 40,000-square-meter green space around the wetland. The rich wetland system has attracted animals rare in China like egrets and become a popular tourist site for walks and recreation.
Dam builders are also striving to come up with creative forms of water conservation and afforestation.
They turned an abandoned concrete mixing plant on the left bank into part of a rare plant garden and promoted the greenery's protection, enhancing the site's environmental value.
Working with miniatures of 14 world-renowned dams, workers have afforested the area around a defunct metal assembly plant according to the area's conditions.
They have also built diverse plants exhibitions, turning an area that once rumbled with machinery into ecological parks with lush vegetation all year round.
A view of the China Three Gorges Museum in Chongqing (Chongqing Museum) [Photo provided to sasac.gov.cn]
A view of an exhibition area of rare plants on the left bank of the Three Gorges Dam [Photo provided to sasac.gov.cn]
