The Yangtze River is the longest in Asia and a popular tourist destination. The most beautiful part is the narrower gorges. We took a small boat deep into the valley where the cliff walls got vertical. The big story in this area is the worlds largest Three Gorges Damn that generates power for most of China and makes the Hoover Dam look like a tinker toy. Building the dam created a lot of controversy back in 2003 both politically and environmentally and required 1.3M people to be displaced as their homes were underwater. All seems calm now and the locals all state that their circumstances are much better now that life isn’t so bleak and difficult. I thought this sounded like a bunch of propaganda, until I had a one on one conversation with a young girl who was adamant her family was much better off now and she had a job as a tour guide. It was great to have a few days of relaxation on the river as the touring pace had been pretty brisk throughout China with LOTS and LOTS of steps!
WanderlustandWhimSea 
I talked about the construction of the dam in my World Regional Geography class. What a difference first-hand knowledge would make it a class like that. If I ever teach it again, I will invite you in as a guest lecturer!
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Wouldn’t that be cool – even better would be if you saw it yourself! The dam and the Great Wall would be awesome topics for World Regional Geography.
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