How Has the Three Gorges Dam Affected China's Food Security?

How a Massive Dam Both Protects and Threatens China’s Food Security

The issue of food has long been the most critical foundation of national stability. For China, which must feed 20% of the world’s population, food security is more than just an economic matter—it is a political challenge that determines the nation’s fate. Today’s topic analyzes how China’s immense determination toward food security is intertwined with the Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest hydroelectric dam.

The Three Gorges Dam is a double-edged sword for China. On one hand, it protects agriculture-centered regions from devastating floods and generates massive electricity essential for agricultural modernization. On the other hand, it alters river ecosystems and displaces countless people, casting a shadow that threatens the very security the dam was meant to guarantee. This colossal project showcases China’s tremendous national capacity but also reveals contradictions and vulnerabilities that significantly impact China’s future and the global food market.

Part 1: The Foundation of a Food Empire

First, let’s explore why China is called a “food empire” and why it is so obsessed with food security. Understanding the scale of China’s agricultural system and its underlying vulnerabilities is the first step to grasping the role of the Three Gorges Dam.

1.1 The Paradox of Scale: World’s Largest Producer, Yet Resource-Scarce

China is the world’s largest agricultural producer, but this status is precarious. It must feed 20% of the global population with less than 10% of the world’s arable land and only 6% of its water resources—an inherent limitation. China ranks among the top globally in production of rice, wheat, potatoes, and meat, with meat, eggs, and seafood production all number one worldwide. Over 300 million people work in agriculture, making the term “empire” quite fitting.

However, behind this enormous output lies serious structural constraints. The pressure to maximize yields on limited land has inevitably led to input-intensive agriculture relying heavily on fertilizers and water. This was almost a political inevitability. Yet this model has caused severe environmental problems such as water pollution in the Yangtze River basin where the Three Gorges Dam is located, raising fundamental questions about the sustainability of China’s food empire.

Table 1: China’s Agricultural Production Profile (1999)

1.2 The 95% Self-Sufficiency Principle and Its Shaken Reality

For a long time, the Chinese government has upheld the principle “Our rice bowl is filled by our own hands,” aiming for 95% food self-sufficiency. However, as the economy develops and diets change, this principle is increasingly out of touch with reality.

The problem is not a shortage of rice or wheat. Rising incomes have shifted diets from grain-based to meat-heavy, causing explosive demand for feed grains (mainly corn and soybeans). Consequently, China has become the world’s largest agricultural importer. This shows that the 95% self-sufficiency goal is more a political slogan for domestic agricultural control than a reflection of the actual food system. China has effectively adopted a “strategic dependence” model: strictly managing staple grains like rice and wheat domestically, while relying on global markets for resource-intensive animal feed.

1.3 Geopolitics on the Dinner Table: China’s Food Choices Shake the World

The US-China trade war and the COVID-19 pandemic have intensified China’s longstanding food security anxieties, leading to the securitization of food supply chains. China’s moves to diversify import sources, promote domestic production, and leverage its massive market power have sent shockwaves through global agricultural markets.

For example, when soybean imports from the US were blocked during the trade war, China quickly shifted supply to Brazil, realizing the risks of dependence on specific countries, especially potential rivals. Recently, China has increased imports of Brazilian corn while canceling Australian wheat imports, using food trade as a diplomatic tool. These actions cause volatility in global food prices and unpredictable impacts on consumers worldwide.

Part 2: The Three Gorges Dam, a Monument of Power and Crisis

Now, shifting from the “why” to the “how,” let’s closely analyze the Three Gorges Dam as a symbol of China’s massive state intervention. It is time to examine in detail how this dam connects to food security, revealing both its bright and dark sides.

2.1 Taming the Yangtze: Justifications and Success of the Dam

The primary justification for building the Three Gorges Dam was flood control. Historically, the Yangtze River caused countless deaths and destroyed farmland. The dam was seen as a shield protecting 15 million people and vast agricultural lands.

The second goal was massive power generation. As the world’s largest hydroelectric power station, the dam is central to China’s energy security and carbon reduction efforts. Lastly, the dam improved inland navigation, linking the interior to the coast and boosting economic development. During severe droughts, it has even released stored water to supply downstream agriculture.

The Three Gorges Dam is not just a civil engineering project but a political declaration symbolizing the Chinese Communist Party’s will to conquer nature and plan the nation’s destiny. In Chinese history, water control (治水) has been closely tied to the legitimacy of rulers. The dam’s success strengthened the Party’s political legitimacy.

2.2 Ecological Costs: A Chain Reaction of Destruction

However, dam operation has caused irreversible ecological disasters. Slowed river flow turned the reservoir into a massive sediment trap, risking becoming a “giant cesspool.” Even the Chinese government admits the dam poses a “serious threat” to the Yangtze ecosystem.

The impact on fisheries has been devastating. The dam blocked fish migration routes and altered spawning habitats, causing a 90% decline in key commercial fish species. The Yangtze River dolphin and Chinese paddlefish have gone extinct as a result.

The most severe problem is “sediment trapping.” The dam retains huge amounts of soil and nutrients that the river used to carry downstream. This has created “hungry water” that erodes riverbeds and caused the Yangtze River delta, including Shanghai, to shrink due to lack of sediment replenishment. This threatens the long-term stability of the entire delta region.

Table 2: Summary of the Three Gorges Dam’s Benefits and Costs

2.3 The Human Cost: Tears of 1.3 Million Displaced

The dam’s construction caused the largest peacetime population relocation in history. Over 1.3 million people were forced to leave their homes. The process was marred by inadequate compensation, economic hardship, and suppression of dissent. Many displaced lost fertile riverside land and were relocated to barren areas, becoming poorer. Communities were dismantled, and numerous archaeological sites were submerged, erasing cultural heritage forever.

The government arrested activists opposing the dam and suppressed public debate, pushing the project forward. The relocation process became a massive social control experiment. Lessons learned in managing displaced populations and quelling unrest were likely applied to other large-scale development projects across China. The human cost of the dam was not just a tragedy but a formative event shaping modern Chinese governance techniques.

2.4 Ongoing Debate: Is the Dam Truly Safe?

The enormous weight of water in the reservoir has increased risks of earthquakes and landslides in surrounding areas. During the 2020 floods, satellite images suggesting dam deformation sparked “collapse rumors.” The government insists the dam can withstand a “100,000-year flood,” but such debates reveal deep public anxiety. The idea of a dam collapse serves as a powerful metaphor—regardless of its truth—that attempts to control nature on such a scale can unleash unpredictable disasters.

Part 3: How the Dam Protects the Dragon’s Harvest

Now, synthesizing the previous analyses, let’s examine how the Three Gorges Dam specifically affects China’s agricultural system and food security, and what this means in broader geopolitical and climatic contexts.

3.1 The Balance Sheet of Contradictions: Flood Control vs. Agricultural Base Destruction

From an agricultural security perspective, the dam’s record reveals deep contradictions. Its greatest agricultural benefit is protecting fertile downstream farmland from floods. Yet the dam systematically destroys the ecological foundation of agriculture.

As mentioned, the dam traps nutrient-rich sediments that naturally fertilized the land. With natural fertility gone, farmers must rely more heavily on chemical fertilizers. However, intensive agriculture in the Yangtze basin already uses massive fertilizer amounts, causing severe water pollution. The dam slows river flow, worsening pollution in a “pollution-dam feedback loop.”

In conclusion, the dam has changed the nature of agricultural risks. It traded the acute and seasonal risk of flooding for the chronic and systemic risk of soil degradation and chemical dependency. This new risk is less visible but potentially more harmful and much harder to manage.

3.2 Water Hegemony: From the Yangtze to the Mekong

China’s management of the Yangtze via the Three Gorges Dam is not just a domestic issue. It is a microcosm of China’s diplomatic approach to transboundary rivers like the Mekong. This is the so-called “hydro-hegemony” strategy.

Despite opposition from downstream countries, China has built multiple massive dams on the upper Mekong. During droughts, it has released “emergency water” to assert influence downstream. This mirrors how China controls the lower Yangtze via the Three Gorges Dam. Engineering and political lessons from the dam are directly applied to foreign policy.

Table 3: Comparative Analysis of China’s Water Politics

3.3 Climate Change as a Variable: Testing System Limits

Climate change is the biggest variable testing the limits of the dam and China’s agricultural system. More intense floods and severe droughts are expected, potentially exceeding the dam’s design capacity.

The dam was designed based on historical data and may not respond well to unpredictable future climates. Rigid operating rules, like lowering reservoir levels to prepare for floods, may become ineffective under rapidly changing conditions. Thus, the dam—once the strongest tool for water control—faces a paradoxical situation where it could become a source of new risks.

Part 4: Strategic Outlook and Recommendations

Based on the analysis so far, this section summarizes vulnerabilities in China’s food-water security system and offers recommendations for the future.

China’s approach, exemplified by the Three Gorges Dam, tends to rely on grand engineering solutions to fix everything. However, this ignores complex ecological feedbacks, is vulnerable to unpredictable climate change, and overlooks the sacrifices of millions, creating systemic weaknesses.

To build a more resilient system, a paradigm shift is needed—moving beyond engineering fixes to integrate ecological restoration, agricultural reform, and social justice. For example, dam operations should be modified to create environments where fish can spawn (environmental flow), and sustainable agriculture reducing chemical fertilizer use in the Yangtze basin should be vigorously supported. Long-term efforts must also restore the livelihoods and mental health of displaced populations and preserve their cultures.

Ultimately, how China resolves its food, water, and energy challenges is no longer just a Chinese issue. China’s choices determine global food prices, alter the fate of transboundary rivers, and significantly impact global environmental issues. The world’s food security and environmental stability are increasingly linked to whether China chooses to protect the “Dragon’s Harvest” or to bind the river with “chains of control.”