Forget the Olympics, this is China’s most spectacular extravaganza: a hundred years in the making costing 25 billion dollars.

One of the biggest engineering feats the world has ever seen and according to its critics an environmental disaster on a monumental scale.

The three gorges dam is certainly a sight to behold a massive wall of concrete spanning the mighty Yangtze river.

The Chinese say it’s all about flood control and clean hydroelectric power. The environmentalists say true it is about power.

Power and national pride and the arrogance of man trying to tame forces of nature.The magnificent Yangtze more than six thousand kilometers long is the third largest river in the world.

Cutting through steep cliff faces shrouded in mist this journey is one of life’s great experiences but the Yangtze is not only spectacular, it’s also a lifeline to 400 million Chinese.

That means its waters are busy with barges and its shoreline littered with industry making the Yangtze not only one of the mightiest but sadly also one of the most polluted rivers in the world.