Inside The Forgotten Chinese Cities Destroyed By The Three Gorges Dam

A designer gathers and displays the artifacts of ancient towns now flooded by a massive dam as a reminder of what China loses as it develops at breakneck speed.

The Three Gorges Dam, a giant hydroelectric dam located along China's Yangtze River, has the biggest installed capacity of any power station in the world. But the project, finished in 2012, hasn't exactly been a triumph over dirtier forms of energy like coal power. Concerns about pollution, landslides, earthquakes, and biodiversity abound. And for about 4 million people, the dam project was mostly a disaster, as it flooded 13 cities, 140 towns, and 1,352 villages. (Everyone was relocated to new settlements built on higher ground, which in an Orwellian feat, were given the same names as their former communities.)



In 2013, Spanish designer and TED Fellow Jorge Manes Rubio set out on a quest to see the destroyed areas for himself. He ultimately emerged with Normal Pool Level, a project that consists of "souvenirs" from the flooded locations. The objects represent China's identity crisis as it continues to develop at a breakneck speed, and the consequences it faces if it continues to do so without regard for residents.

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