Before the Deluge: The Vanishing World of the Yangtze's Three Gorges

More than a million people will be displaced from towns along China's Yangtze River in a vastly complicated project begun decades ago to build the Three Gorges Dam. Incrementally, the water level will rise nearly 600 feet to form a reservoir by 2009, overflowing long-established communities and irreplaceable antiquities: Tang Dynasty rock engravings and the""Gorge of the Sword and Book upon the Art of War,"" where Zhuge Liang, before he became renowned for Mastering the Art of War, is said to have placed his book on military command. Chetham, a director of Harvard's prestigious Asia Center and an expert on the area, paints a pulsating picture of the great river, the countryside, the people and their occupations, the amazingly fluid political philosophies and the sheer endurance of all parties, past and present, involved with the overwhelming project. The panorama of China, the Three Gorges and the ever-present natural disasters and national turmoil emerges as Chetham employs a chiaroscuro-like technique, offering by turns visions of economic utopias with unprecedented generation of electrical power and darker tales in the history of a controversial undertaking. From timelines and interviews to musings of ancient poets, the story of the yielding of the Three Gorges to irrevocable change unfolds.""In China, not only does every rock and inlet have a story associated with it, but a god as well."" With masterful scholarship and evocative prose, Chetham, who lived in China and understands this region intimately, chronicles myriad viewpoints. 23 pages of illustrations and b&w photos.