Jeff Zhao of West Windsor spent part of his summer vacation conducting a research project on the Three Gorges Dam in China. A student at the Lawrenceville School, when his family made plans to visit China, he received the Welles Award from the school last spring.
The Three Gorges Dam is a massive undertaking to build the world’s largest hydroelectric project along the Yangtze River. The goals of this controversial project include flood control, power generation, fishery, tourism, recreational activities, and navigation improvement. To this end, over 1,”000 archaeological sites were submerged, and over a million people were relocated from 20 districts that were flooded to create the dam. The reservoir, which has been worked on since 1994, has already significantly changed the landscape of the area.
“My mother’s classmate and his son helped me talk to people and understand the dialect,” says Zhao. “In exchange I would help them with their English. They were also instrumental in getting us onto the dam site as well as sharing a lot of useful information.”
He took photographs and made videos and audio recordings of what he saw and the interviews he conducted. He visited four major cities and talked to many people who had been relocated by the government.
He says he thought that he would find that people were unhappy with the move, but found instead that many believe the government was providing for them. Most said that they are satisfied and are slowly adjusting to their lives in general. “In many cases, their living conditions improved,” says Zhao. “The government reconstructed the homes that they moved and have done an excellent job of considering just about every issue.”
Born in China 15 years ago, he is the only child of Jane Li and Ki Zhao. Soon after he was born, his parents came to the United States to study for their advanced degrees and the young Zhao lived with his grandparents. When he was three, he lived in Virginia and the family moved to North Brunswick when he was six. They moved to West Windsor when he was in third grade where he attended Dutch Neck School. He also was a student at the Upper Elementary and Community Middle School. A bassoon player for four years, he is in search of a new teacher. He begins his junior year at Law-renceville this fall.
His parents both have their doctorate degrees in geophysics. His mother is a database administrator at Peterson’s and his father works at Bloomberg in Plainsboro. At home, the family speaks both English and Chinese. This was his father’s first time back in China since he left in 1989.
In June, 2003, navigation was opened on the Yangtze River, between Yichang and Chongqing, and cruises that go through the five-level ship lock are available.
