We visited the Three Gorges Dam and learned a lot about how it was built and how it controls the Yangtze River. In order to build the dam the river needed to be diverted to create a dry base on which to lay the foundations of the dam. Water is released by flushing water from the reservoir behind the dam in order to prevent silt build-up, as well as being forced through turbines turbines to generate up to 3% of the power output of the entire country of China. Some people think this flushing technique will not work with a reservoir of water this large because the silt will settle at the beginning of the reservoir, but the flushing will only disturb the water closest to the dam, so some experts worry that silt will still build up.

A series of locks and gates was also incorporated into the dam in order to allow shipping traffic through the region. The dam also allowed more trade to come to the region of the Yangtze River by increasing the depth of the river waters, allowing larger ships with more cargo to sail farther upstream.