Editor's note: As protection of the planet's flora, fauna and resources becomes increasingly important, China Daily is publishing a series of stories to illustrate the country's commitment to safeguarding the natural world.

Twenty-one years after the switch being flicked on at the world's largest hydroelectric power project at the Three Gorges Dam in Central China's Hubei province, millions of terawatts of green energy has been generated, the threat of devastating floods along the Yangtze River has been reduced and navigation on Asia's longest waterway has been made easier.

In order for this megaproject to take place, the dam would result in the water level along certain stretches of the Yangtze rising by as much as 100 meters, displacing as many as 1.3 million people.

Resettling these communities, often just a few hundred meters from their previous homes, has been an equally monumental task that, with subsidies and investment, has added to the benefits already created by the dam and power station.