The New 3 Gorges

 

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 (shen nong stream in Ba Dong)4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 (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 (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 (Xi Tuo Ancient town in Shi Zhu)18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 (Da Chang Ancient Town in Wu Shan)22腾龙 (Teng Long Cave in Li Chuan)23石宝寨 (Shi Bao Zhai in Zhong Xian)24刘伯承 (Liu Bo Cheng Memorial Hall in Kai Xian)25梁水下博物 (Bai He Liang Underwater Museum in Fu Ling)26文峰 (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 (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.

 

Visit to Beijing by PM De Croo

Intense program

I was honored to be present on 11 January 2024 for the visit to Beijing by PM De Croo.
The reception was in the afternoon with H.E. Alexander De Croo, Prime Minister of Belgium, H. E. Hadja Lahbib, Minister of Foreign Affairs and H.E. Mr. Bruno Angelet, Ambassador of Belgium.
See below details of the program as I managed to figure out on my own.
Contrary to the traditional protocol to introduce the local Belgian community we were ignored by the large delegation composed of many Belgian government officials, businesspeople and journalists. Nobody was interested to have feedback from us on the business environment. The PM kept busy with the dozens of journalists.

The PM actually mentioned in his speech the project I did in the eighties, Yaomeng Pingdingshan Power Plant, the first soft loan to China. I was in charge of the project from 1980 to 1988.
I had wanted to mention to him how I received his father in 1986. On 3 November 1986 I welcomed Belgian ambassador Jan Hollants Van Locke and Herman De Croo, Minister of Foreign Trade.

See also the official reception for the opening of the Beijing office on 26 October 1981.
Also Renaat Morel was not introduced to the PM. All while President Xi Jinping mentioned Morel’s restaurant to the PM later on.

I did have the chance to meet again H.E. Jan Hoogmartens, Bernard Dewit and the author Veerle De Vos (I have her book).

Program

– 11 January afternoon – inauguration of the new embassy – attended by H.E. Alexander De Croo, Prime Minister of Belgium, H. E. Hadja Lahbib, Minister of Foreign Affairs, H.E. Mr. Bruno Angelet, Ambassador of Belgium and H.E. Wang Yi, member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and Foreign Minister. Performance by Peter Ritzen and Liu Guangyu (we had dinner later together). Unveiling of the nameplates for three spaces in the new building, honoring three figures that played a crucial role in Belgian-China relationship: Father Ferdinand Verbiest – Tian Bao Courtyard (Panda Garden) – Qian Xiuling Hall.

– 11 January evening – dinner and panel discussion in Kempinski Hotel for the Belgian business people, panel by Joerg Wuttke (and possibly others but none of us).
– 12 January 2024 – Belgian PM De Croo and Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs Lahbib met with Chinese and Belgian entrepreneurs during an event organized by the Belgian-Chinese Chamber of Commerce (BCECC) and CCPIT in Beijing.

– 12 January 2024 (afternoon) – PM De Croo and Minister Lahbib had a meeting with the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, Zhao Leji, then with the Premier of the PRC Li Qiang, and then with the President of the PRC Xi Jinping. The Prime Minister, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the whole business delegation were also invited by Premier Li Qiang for a banquet during lunchtime.

= The Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Belgian ambassador also visited the Forbidden City, closed for the public.

Results of the visit

Overall the impact was positive and it is certainly a boost for Belgium-China relations.
I collected many of the media articles, English, Dutch and Chinese (with Google translation). Anybody interested contact me. See the overview: mediaarticles
The import of Belgian pork meat is now again allowed.
The hoopla around the import of Belgian endive was a bit of a joke.
The vegetable that we call witloof or chicon or endive is mostly translated in English as “endive”. More about this famous vegetable in my post.
Indeed Renaat Morel launched in China the culture of endive around 1997, in Northeast China. He also imported samples of the transport containers with blue paper – to cover the endive that cannot have light so it remains white.

Since then we all enjoy endive and the famous Morel dish of endive au gratin. Just this week I had it served as a salad in the Sichuan Mansion during a Chinese banquet.
While citizens of France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Malaysia, Ireland and Switzerland will now be allowed to enter China without a visa, Belgium did not receive the same favor.

Home Is Where The Heart Is

I got the book!

As I mentioned earlier with some details, the the book “Home Is Where The Heart Is” came out and I got a few hard copies.

Right now no idea how one can buy a copy, while a price of RMB130 (TBC) has been mentioned.
It’s not yet on Amazon (expected soon) nor Taobao and the bar code does not work as for now. Seems Graham Earnshaw might get involved, he is well-known and also has a publishing company. I met him many years ago when he was talking about his walk from Shanghai to Tibet. That would be interesting!
Anybody interested contact me directly.

The contributors

As mentioned earlier, see here again who talks about their China story.

Mark, Raja, Terry and myself are members of the “Old China Hands Monthly lunch”; I know personally Michael (and his mother!) and Volker.

Home Is Where The Heart Is

The term is actually well known, it’s also a song (Elvis Presley and others), an American movie (1987), a TV miniseries (2022) and a book on Amazon with the same title by Ilse Crawford.

See here some details:

Home Is Where the Heart Is, a TV Mini Series (2022)
A privileged young lawyer, Jane becomes a reluctant champion of the vulnerable when she partners up with Arif, a cynical yet compassionate social worker to take on pro-bono cases of the less fortunate.
Creators: Kai Xiang Chang and Kenny Tan; Stars: Naomi Yeo – Fauzie Laily – Mathialagan

Home Is Where the Hart Is, a 1987 American film starring Leslie Nielsen

Many different versions: “Home Is Where the Heart Is”, see here details.

Old China Hands 7 July

After the COVID years…

Many of members were traveling in China and the world so our lunch Old China Hands 7 July had only 15 people. Many left for the first time since a few years due to COVID. We expect the next lunch lunch on 4 August to be the same, most are away for July and August.

But we still had a great lunch and chat. The food by Renaat Morel’s team, delicious as always.

Home is Where the Heart is

A book is coming out very soon, telling the China stories of several of our members: Mark Levine, Raja Magasweran, Terry Crossman and yes myself. I also know well most of the other contributors.

The book is the work of New Star Press with Chen Shuo the talented reporter who skillfully wrote my story. The book is to be published in USA by Waymont International Publishing House with the title “Home is Where the Heart is”.
See another book it published “I Grew up in China” :230210 growingup and the announcement of our book: 230210 Wheretheheartis,

A bit weird but The U.S. publishing company cannot be found on the Internet…
I already have the full PDF of the book and I made a PDF of only my part, 33 pages with many of my pictures.
Except for one single sentence (no details!) the text is absolutely correct.
Now waiting for the hard copy!

Interviewed by The Bridge (CGTN)

Skype interview

On 22 March 2023 Gilbert was interviewed by The Bridge (CGTN): “We talk about consumer waste around the world with the author of Toxic Capitalism”.
Here is the latest link from CGTN.

The interview on Skype was with Jason Smith and (Ms.) Beibei of The Bridge Radio Show and Podcast.
Jason is now also a regular at our Old China Hands Monthly Lunch!

The interview was pleasant and well structured. The funny thing was, Jason mentioned to Beibei they were going to interview me. Beibei surprised, turned around and showed Jason the copy of my book Toxic Capitalism that she had just bought. Then Jason ordered another copy for himself – he could have bought it directly from me!
So there was a lot of talk about environmental topics, along the many other.

The introduction on the website:
“Sir Gilbert Van Kerckhove from Ghent, Belgium, has lived in China for four decades. While working in the country, he led the initiative to build Shanghai’s Line 3 in the 1990s and was involved in the preparations for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. In his book Toxic Capitalism, he shares extensive knowledge on global consumerism and wastage, and how to tackle these challenges. A recipient of the highest award for foreigners in China: The Friendship Award, Van Kerckhove is also the Rotating Chairman of Foreign Expert Committee, Belt and Road International Talent. We ask him about environmental efforts in modern China and how he views his 43 years in the Middle Kingdom.”

Other audio links

The full intro about me:
“Gilbert Van Kerckhove, is from Ghent, Belgium where he graduated with a master’s degree in electronic engineering. He speaks Dutch, French, English, Portuguese, German, survival Spanish, and survival Chinese. He first moved to China in 1980. He is the president and founder of Beijing Global Strategy Consulting Co., Ltd., a Wholly Owned Foreign Enterprise in management consulting that provided strategy guidance, investment & development advice and lobbying to foreign and Chinese companies and entities.
Since early 2000 he has been assisting the Beijing Municipal authorities in the areas of economic studies and foreign investment promotion.
He was deeply involved in the preparations for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. His book Toxic Capitalism was published in August 2012. He is a recipient of the highest award for foreigners in China: The Friendship Award. He is also the Rotating Chairman of Foreign Expert Committee, Belt and Road International Talent.
He’s earned the Knight in the Order of the Crown – Belgium (21 November 2004 – by HRH Prince Philip).
And finally he has also worked in Brazil, Nigeria, Spain, Thailand, Indochina and Burma (Myanmar). There’s more, but we only have an hour. Welcome to the show Gilbert.”

The podcast is on a range of other websites:

Spotify

Apple podcasts

Audible

YouTube video
A short clip is on YouTube, now with my first name corrected … (thanks!)

The updated clip

Author Gilbert Van Kerckhove Discusses China’s Transformation” (Need VPN)