Wuhan, China (from WASER Net):

On the evening of August 14, a farewell banquet and closing ceremony of the WASER/IAHR-APD/IRTCES Study Tour to the TGP was held in Changhai Hotel of Wuhan city. Dr. Hui-Ming Shih, Ph.D. candidate of USA State Colorado University gave a speech during the ceremony.

Before the closing ceremony, he also wrote a summary of the programs of firest two days of the tour. He wrote:

Summary of TGP study tour seminar

 

The study tour to the Three Gorges Project (TGP) was an international research activity co-organized by the international hydraulic organizations, WASER, IAHR-APD and IRTCES. Participants in this study tour included scientists, engineers and researchers from different countries, including China , Japan , India , Iran , Italy , Korea and United State . Activities of first two days in this study included lectures and seminars, and field visit to the Gezhouba dam site. In addition, the cultural recreation evening party in the first night offered a good way to introduce the local culture and custom to foreign friends.

 

First of all, in this study tour, the international professors and experts expressed their desire to understand this greatest engineering project in the 21st century. At beginning of the seminars, senior engineers from the China TGP Corporation introduced the outline of project. Consequently, other speakers presented the topics related to TGP such as sediment transport, river habitat, waste water treatment, construction waste treatment, etc. This kind of international technical exchange provided an overview of TGP to every participant.

 

The study tour is not only theoretical, but also very practical oriented. TGP engineers invited all participants to visit the 1:500 model of Gezhouba hydro-project in TGP Culture Museum and then had a field trip of Gezhouba dam. From the visit in person and the introduction by dam engineers, we learned the multi-purposes of the project and the operating relationship between Gezhouba dam and Three Gorges dam. Power generation, navigation, flood control, environmental re-habitation and re- settlement all challenge the dam projects. So far, with support from China Central government, devotion of project engineers and cooperation from local residents, TGP aims to be completed by the year of 2009. Then the whole China will take pride in the TGP, which will write a new mileage on history of hydraulic engineering in the world.

 

Besides the study seminars and field trips, some recreational sessions, such as the welcoming party and cultural evening show at TGP hotel, act as a good opportunity for friendship and culture exchanges. It indicates the study tour is a combination of research exchange and native culture experience.

 

To sum up, the TGP study tour is an informative, practical and educational activity, from which we all benefit. Through research seminars, field trips and cultural evening, all participants truly witnessed and get on the top of the great achievements of the three gorges project in China .

 

Summer, 2005