China Yangtze Three Gorges Project as one of the biggest hydropower-complex project in the world ranks as the key project for improvement and development of Yangtze River. The dam is located in the areas of Xilingxia Gorge, one of the three gorges of the river, which will control a drainage area of 1 million square kilometers, with an average annual runoff of 451 billion meter cube. The open valley at the dam site, with hard and complete granite as the bedrock, has provided the favorable topographical and geological conditions for dam construction.
Three Gorges reach of Yangtze River stretches over 192 kilometers and is famous for its beautiful natural landscapes and historical and cultural relics. After the reservoir began its function, the rise of water level might cause some natural landscapes to be submerged. Since most mountains upon the banks are basically over 800 meters and the maximum water level of the reservoir is lower than 175 m, so most of the natural landscapes will remain unchanged. While the rise of water level brings improvement of navigation, some landscapes in the branches of Yangtze River of this area, such as Shenlongjia and Jiuwanxi will get favorable conditions for development.
Anyway, there are forty four relics which are influenced by the rise of water level of Three Gorges reservoir. One of them, the Baiheliang sculpture and epigraphs in Fuling, ranks among the first class in the national protecting list of relics. Another five relics are among the provincial protection list. The other relics unaffected by the Project include Baidi city in Fengjie, Ghost Town in Fengdu, and so on. Some relics are preserved at its original location or transferred or copied to another place, such as Baiheliang sculpture, Zhang Fei Temple, Shibaozhai and Qu Yuan Temple. The ancient tombs of the submerged area have been unearthed on the basis of survey.