Yr Afon

On her travels, Bethan meets many people affected by this enormous, mile-long structure, which is visible from space and China's largest construction scheme since the building of the Great Wall.

The dam has two main purposes – to reduce the flooding that has killed 300,000 people over the past century and to provide power and a better shipping system to enable the city of Chongching, which lies on the Yangtze, to grow at a rapid rate.

But there's a price to pay. For 400 miles upriver the landscape has changed completely. Thirteen cities, 100 towns and a 1,000 villages have been drowned, with thousands of families re-housed.

The dam has also caused the erosion of rice fields vital for growing the country's staple diet. The increasing build-up of silt behind the dam is raising river levels above expectation and poses more risks of flooding. The dam has also been built above a seismic fault line and a major earthquake could cause the worst flooding in China's history. Some believe the sheer weight of the dam itself could cause an earthquake.

Bethan meets some of the people who've profited from the dam, while she hears from others who've lost their homes, their livelihoods and their way of life.

One who has made the best of her situation is Tan Sia Lan, who now runs boat trips for tourists along the Yangtze. She is one of the country folk who had to resettle because of the dam.

In Chongching, Bethan visits the Lifan car and motorcycle factory whose products are exported to over a 100 countries. The owner, Yi Ming Xhan, one of China's 30 richest people, explains how the dam has made exporting all year round possible and how it's brought a reliable source of electricity for the factory.

In complete contrast, Bethan is welcomed into one of the most basic of Chinese homes, that of Hu Xhang, one of the so-called 'bang bang' people working as porters for £4 a day.

Though the dam made a big impression on Bethan, she concludes that she, personally, would not have had it built. "It's an example of man playing God and trying to control nature. The dam has brought clean energy and growth on every turn of the river's course but it has given birth to a growth in trade which the river cannot sustain," she says.

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