One month before the Three Gorges Dam's opening ceremony.
Commander Liang Jiaxi stood proudly atop the world's largest hydroelectric dam with no inkling that within a month he would bring about its destruction.
Liang had every reason to be proud. He had built the dam. The Three Gorges Dam would provide energy to China's growing economy, prevent thousands of drowning deaths from flooding each year, and command the world's attention as a symbol of the new China.
He noted with approval that workmen had removed the last of the construction equipment and scaffolding. In the glow of the setting sun, the engineering marvel was a sight to behold. Like Liang in his white uniform, the structure was lean and powerful. The rim of the ivory wall reached audaciously out over the river and its slender concrete ribs curved inward neatly at the bottom. But its brute strength was also evident as it chopped the raging Yangtze River in two.
He turned and began to stroll toward the river's northern bank. With a proprietary touch, he ran a hand along the railing there to prevent visitors from falling fifty stories into the river. It was one long slab of concrete, and it would be nightfall before he reached the far end, more than two kilometers away.
This wasn't entirely his dam. His country's founder Sun Yatsen had dreamed of it, and Chairman Mao had written poems about the idea. Liang's grandfather, the president of China, had approved the design. And Liang's father had begun construction on it before his death. But Liang had brought about its completion. As the grandson of China's ruling president and the star of the Three Gorges Dam, Liang was heir apparent to the chairmanship of the Communist Party and in his mind the next in line for the presidency.
In precisely one month on the auspicious date of 7/7, he would host an opening ceremony to focus the world's attention on China's greatest engineering prowess. He would close a floodgate that led into a diversion channel. The rapid rise in water level would allow most of the twenty-six turbines to begin generating power immediately.
Within a day, the backwash would swamp the nearest upstream tributary. Less than a week later, the floodwaters would inundate a second tributary. Within a month, the distant megalopolis of Chongqing would see a dramatic increase in water level. And within a year, the scenic Three Gorges of the Yangtze River would become a quiet, if deep, millpond.
As far as he could see to the south and east, power lines were strung to distribute the electricity to China's booming coastal cities. His country would become unstoppable, the manufacturing powerhouse of the world.
There was only one impediment to his putting the dam online and beginning the next phase of China's future. It was an outspoken scientist whom he would have imprisoned years earlier had the old guy not been the father of Liang's future bride.
So what was it going to be: the marriage or the dam?
Both, he thought with a smile.
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