ABSTRACT
There were virtually no large-scale water projects in China before 1949. But in the ensuing years, and especially in the years during and since the Great Leap Forward, the Chinese Communist Party has heavily promoted dam and reservoir construction as part of massive national campaigns. The more than 80,000 dams and reservoirs built over the last forty years have played an important role in flood control, electricity generation, and irrigation and have provided water for urban areas and industry. These achievements should not be underestimated, but dam construction, especially during and after the Great Leap Forward, has also had disastrous consequences. The Ministry of Water Resources, however, just shrugs its shoulders. It would appear that the "crap" left by the Great and Small Leaps Forward will linger for some time to come. During a 1991 conference on dam collapses in Vienna, participating countries exchanged information, as is the general practice, on collapses in their respective countries.
