Old China Hands Lunch 6 September

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

End of summer

Our Old China Hands Lunch 6 September 2025 marked the end of summer and holidays. Beijing just had recovered from the turmoil of the military parade of 3 September, Dongchen District had not yet removed the security barriers – Chaoyang had it all cleaned up.
With many of our members busy, the turnout of 25 was reasonable. A few new faces were welcomed.


The menu, see the pictures:

  • sliced smoked salmon stuffed with seafood and garden greens OR poached eggs with wine merchant sauce OR cream of tomato soup
  • fricandeau of beef served with hot cherry and mashed potatoes OR thin-sliced beef tenderloin with black pepper sauce served with vegetables and Belgian frietes OR red snapper Mediterranean style served with daily vegetables and mashed potatoes
  • daily desert

The following lunch is planned for Friday 3 October 2025 (yes, in the holiday week).

Again Gilbert in the news.

It took a long time for my interview to come out, done 23 February 2025 in my office by Chris and his team with a complex equipment setup.

On 10 September it finally came out on YouTube and it’s worth the wait. Chris did a professional job as always.

The interview by Chris Petersen-Clausen is part of the series “Living History”: Stories from the Opening of China is the new series of documentary interviews with Chinese, Americans and others about the experiences they had in the period between the reopening of China under Deng Xiaoping in 1979 and the Shanghai Expo in 2010. These crucial years and the people-to-people exchanges made during this time are a period whose memory we want to preserve with this series. Many of the stories that are being recorded have never before been documented for the public. If you, too have a story from this time that you would like to tell us please do get in touch with Chris at chris@memostothefuture.com – they are continuously filming more interviews.

So here is my story in “Living History”: Gilbert Van Kerckhove – Building the Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing.

It all began with an unusual job interview in 1980. Gilbert Van Kerckhove, a young Belgian engineer, was interviewing for a job that nobody else seemed to want. That led him to Beijing, where the engineer and businessman built power stations, the Jin Mao skyscraper, changed a law prohibiting the construction of subways and served as Negotiations Director for the construction of the Bird’s Nest stadium for the 2008 Olympics.

Old China Hands Lunch 1 August 2025

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Good turnout

The turnout for the Old China Hands Lunch 1 August 2025 was unexpectantly better than I calculated: we were 30! Many people on holiday and away from Beijing.
Yes it was hot but so was the chatting. And the food of Morel’s Restaurant was great as always.

See some of the dishes of our menu in the pics.

  • Russian eggs salad OR Belgian endive salad with blue cheese sauce OR fresh daily soup
  • pork piccata provençale style served with grilled tomato and pan-fried potatoes OR thin-sliced beef tenderloin with wine merchant sauce served with market vegetables and sauteed potatoes OR pan-fried snapper with mustard sauce served with daily vegetables and mashed potatoes
  • daily desert

Gilbert Internet star in … Fujian

Gilbert was invited to the World Internet Conference in Quanzhou, Fujian. A mega event with 800 participants from China and many countries. The program was very busy, also with an outstanding cultural evening and a welcome dinner where I met the Governor of Fujian Province. I was taken to the Interview Room to face a crowd of journalists. 

I attended as Rotating Chairman of UWEE. See here the link to their official newsletter that also shows a video clip
See here the PDF of the newsletter: 250801 UWEEQuanzhou
Here the link (need VPN in China) for the UWEE clip of the World Internet Conference showing my participation.
Some of the interviews with me published on the Internet, Quanzhou World Internet Conference 24 July 2025, here the YouTube link.

Premiere of New 3 Gorges 3D movie

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

 

Premiere event

The Premiere of New 3 Gorges 3D movie was held in the Central Television Media Center on 26 June 2025.
The movie was jointly produced by the former Three Gorges Office of the State Council (now merged with the Ministry of Water Resources), Chongqing Municipal People’s Government, Hubei Provincial People’s Government, China Three Gorges Corporation and China Film Group Corporation, and many international film masters participated in the creation of the film. It took 30 years of tracking and shooting, more than 10 years of creation and polishing, the full support of 11 Chinese academicians; more than 50 experts and leaders participated in the dialogue, and 100 scholars and eyewitnesses contributed. It will be screened in more than 3,000 theaters across the country starting from June 26, and a series of international and domestic screenings will be launched.

During the premiere I was the only foreigner and also the only tourism expert from the expert group that took part in the November 2015 shooting, see the earlier post.
Many speeches from leaders and contributors and the presentation of the movie in 2D.
The detailed report of the event by China Report.:
The world premiere of the large-scale 3D documentary film “The New Three Gorges” with the theme of “Three Gorges Love and Chinese Heart” was held in Beijing, by China Report.
Here the original article in Chinese with translation into English: 250630 Sanxia_eventreport

I was interviewed I think by Chongqing TV.
During the “New Three Gorges Tourism Promotion Conference” delegates from several cities along the Yangtze River presented their region and local products and dishes were displayed.

Watching the 3D movie

On 28 June we went to watch the 3D movie in one of the very few theaters that showed 3D (somewhere in North 3rd Ring Road area), most were 2D. In the afternoon session we had the whole theater for us. We were told the morning session was full.

The double text in the pictures is because of the 3D.

My take on the movie

Of course I am honored and happy to be so much featured in the movie. But I regret none of the other members of our tourism expert team was featured and also none attended the premiere. It seems they were pretty unhappy with the movie, a sentiment I do share in part.
We saw so many amazing tourist sites but they appear little in the movie that spends too much time with insignificant themes. It fails to show the transformation by the rising waters, the impact on logistics and mobility in the whole region. There are other videos that show the submerged villages and structures; nothing about it in the movie.
The movie fails to project and promote the imposing tourist pearls along the Chongqing to Sanxia riverside. It missed a great opportunity.
Let’s hope that other movie segments will be shown later.

 

New 3 Gorges documentaries

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

 

Seven chapters

The New 3 Gorges documentaries had 7 episodes, each 30 minutes long, with 7 aspects of “dam”, “water”, “mountain”, “people”, “scenery/The View”, “city” and “dream”. It shows the new achievements, new changes and new developments of the Three Gorges reservoir area and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River after the completion of the Three Gorges Project. The film was launched in 2012 and the crew has invested in the shooting, production and polishing of “New Three Gorges for 10 years.
The documentaries were aired on CCTV9, 17 to 23 November 2022. I am featured as a tourism specialist, mostly in Chapter 5 “The View”, from the shooting in November 2015.

See some screenshots from the different chapters.
The movies are 2D, the 3D movie came out years later.
For the 3D shooting, Keith Merlin, the documentary director who won two Oscars, and Christie Niby, the director of “The Truth about Diaoyu Island” and “Mysterious China” , “Avatar” visual effects director Chuck Komisky, “Ocean”, “Migrating Birds” and “Penguin Diaries” director Jacques Behan and many other international film masters participated in the planning, shooting and guidance.

The 3D camera was showed during the Jialing River event on 3 August 2018.

New 3 Gorges documentaries details

Introduction of the 7 episodes, see the YouTube clip.
And on Vimeo.
Watch the full Chapter 5 on YouTube.
In my opinion the documentaries are somehow better than the final 3D movie. More about it in later posts.

Earlier media event

On 15 December 2015 a Media Event was held in the CCTV Media Center (Fuxing Road) to introduce the movie, “Discovering New Three Gorges”.
Check the earlier post.

 

 

The New 3 Gorges

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

 

A memorable adventure

On 2 November 2022 I landed in Chongqing to start my journey for the shooting of the movie “The New 3 Gorges”. I was the only foreigner in a group of over 50 experts, scholars and media personnel as well as several journalists. Also part were the many cameramen and the drone operator. It took 12 days, we traveled more than 3,000 kilometers along the Yangtze River from Chongqing to the Three Gorges Dam, and visited more than a dozen districts and counties, and more than 40 tourist attractions. Every day we needed to fill out a detailed report to evaluate the tourist sites we visited. Journeys were long and exhausting!

My official title: “Discovering the New Three Gorges”. Tourism Mission Leader and Expert GILBERT VAN KERCKHOVE Nationality: Belgium, Work Unit: International Leisure Industry Association. Position: Senior Expert Consultant.

I saw fantastic scenery, imposing tourist sites, I took hundreds of pictures, see some here as well some of the location maps during our travel. I still have an idea to publish some of the pictures.

In every city we passed we were received as VIPs by the local government.

We ended our journey on the dam of the Three Gorges 0n 12 November 2022.

 

Many sites visited

In this interview I gave some comments and recommendations about the tourist sites I visited: 151118 interviewGVK

See the planned program: 151102 program

Here is a list, actually incomplete as some locations were downvoted (sometimes wrongly in my opinion):

The ranking list of 30 Best New Three Gorges Scenic Spots

1三峡人家 (san xia ren jia in Yi Chang)、2三峡港湾 (san xia gang wan in Zhong Xian)、3神农溪 (shen nong stream in Ba Dong)、4汉丰湖 (han feng lake in Kai Xian)、5黄水旅游区 (Huang shui Tourist Area in Shi Zhu)、6鬼城名山 (the ghost city in Feng Du)、7三峡大坝 (Three Gorges Dam)、8神女景区 (shen nv Tourist Area in Wu Shan)、9平湖万州 (Wan Zhou city)、10新三峡电影公社 (New Three Gorges Film village in Wan Zhou)、11瞿塘峡 (Qutang Gorge)、12巫山小三峡 (Wu Shan Little Three Gorges in Wu Shan)、13天坑地缝 (tian keng di feng in Feng Jie)、14恩施大峡谷 (En Shi Grand Canyon in En Shi)、15雪玉洞 (Show Jade Cave in Feng Du)、16白帝城 (Bai Di City in Feng Jie)、17西沱古镇 (Xi Tuo Ancient town in Shi Zhu)、18龙缸景区 (Long Gang Tourism Area in Yun Yang)、19万州大瀑布 (Wan Zhou Great Falls in Wan Zhou)、20武陵山大裂谷 (Wu Ling Mountain Rift Valley in Fu Ling)、21大昌古镇 (Da Chang Ancient Town in Wu Shan)、22腾龙洞 (Teng Long Cave in Li Chuan)、23石宝寨 (Shi Bao Zhai in Zhong Xian)、24刘伯承纪念馆 (Liu Bo Cheng Memorial Hall in Kai Xian)、25白鹤梁水下博物馆 (Bai He Liang Underwater Museum in Fu Ling)、26文峰观 (Wen Feng Taoist Temple in Wu Shan)、27三峡梯城 (San Xia Ladder City in Yun Yang)、28张飞庙 (Zhang Fei Temple in Yun Yang)、29屈原故里 (Qu Yuan Temple in Zi Gui)、30涪陵两江广场 (Fu Ling Rivers Plaza in Fu Ling)

The dam

It’s the world’s 27th largest dam by reservoir volume, and the world’s largest power station by installed capacity (22,500 MW).  After the extensive monsoon rainfalls of 2020, the dam produced nearly 112 TWh in a year, breaking the previous world record set by the Itaipu Dam (Brazil) in 2016.

The dam’s body was completed in 2006; the power plant became fully operational in 2012. The last major component of the project, the ship lift, was completed in 2015. The dam, measuring 185 meters in height and 2,309 meters in width, significantly surpasses Brazil’s 12,600 MW Itaipu facility and is one of the world’s largest hydroelectric plants.

Each of the main water turbines, state-of-the-art at their installation, has a capacity of 700 MW. Combining the capacity of the dam’s 32 main turbines with the two smaller generators (50 MW each) that provide power to the plant itself, the total electric generating capacity of the Three Gorges Dam is 22,500 MW.

The generators were manufactured by two joint ventures: Alstom, ABB, Kvaerner, and the Chinese company Harbin Motor; and Voith, General Electric, Siemens (abbreviated as VGS), and the Chinese company Oriental Motor.

The dam enhances the Yangtze River’s shipping capacity and provides flood control, helping to protect millions of people from severe flooding on the Yangtze Plain.

Source with many details: Wikipedia.

In the eighties I introduced the Belgian technology of ship lifts to the project team but they failed to follow up. Much later the Chinese side came back to me but at that stage I said, sorry, all engineers have retired and Belgium cannot do it anymore. They built their own ship lift but as far as I can see, it is not that much used used, the ships usually use the ship locks.

See the story of the Belgian Strépy-Thieu boat lift in Wikipedia.