Three Gorges Dam
Displacement of residents

During planning, it was estimated that 13 cities, 140 towns and 1,350 villages would be partially or completely flooded by the reservoir, amounting to roughly 1.5% of Hubei's 60.3 million people and Chongqing Municipality's 31.44 million people. These people were moved to new homes by the Chinese government, which considered the displacement justified by the flood protection provided for the communities downstream of the dam.

Between 2002 and 2005, Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky documented the impact of the project on the surrounding areas, including the town of Wanzhou. Other photographers who recorded the change include Chengdu-based Muge, Paris-based Zeng Nian (originally from Jiangsu), and Israeli Nadav Kander. Living conditions deteriorated for many, and hundreds of thousands of people could not find work. The older generation was particularly affected, but younger generations benefited from the educational and career opportunities afforded by moving to large cities with new, modern companies and schools.

Some 2007 reports claimed that Chongqing Municipality would encourage four million more people to move away from the dam to Chongqing's main urban area by 2020. The municipal government asserted that the relocation was driven by urbanization, rather than a direct result of the dam project, and that the people involved included other areas of the municipality.

By June 2008, China had moved 1.24 million residents as far as Gaoyang in Hebei Province, and the moves concluded the following month.
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