Chinese Academy of Water Conservancy and Hydropower Sciences: China Water Conservancy: Today in History (1949-2010)

From February 19 to 22, 1953, Chairman Mao Zedong of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China visited the Yangtze River by boat. On the way from Wuhan to Nanjing, I listened to the report of the head of the Changjiang Committee on the Yangtze River, and inquired about the meteorological characteristics, rainstorm distribution, causes of floods and hydrological data of the Yangtze River basin over the years. I made extensive research and overall consideration on the river control scheme, and put forward clearly the idea of building the Three Gorges Dam to solve the flood control problem of the Yangtze River. 

On February 19, 1960, Deng Xiaoping, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, Peng Zhen, Secretary of the Secretariat, and others, accompanied by Zeng Xisheng, First Secretary of the Anhui Provincial Party Committee, inspected the Meishan Reservoir in Anhui Province. 

On February 19, 1998, Wen Jiabao, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Secretary of the Secretariat, issued a directive on the bank collapse of Yongan reach of the Yangtze River, the main stream of Jiujiang City, Jiangxi Province, from February 12 to 15: "Since winter, the water level of the Yangtze River has been relatively high, so we should pay close attention to the safety of the embankment. We should step up the work of protection. Resolute measures should be taken to stop the indiscriminate excavation of sand and remove hidden dangers affecting the safety of dykes.