On June 21, Zhang Guangdou, a pioneer of China's water conservancy and hydropower cause and an academician of both the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, passed away. A centenarian of 101 years old has forever bid farewell to his life in water conservancy and departed. The people of Yichang hold fond memories of Zhang Guangdou's contributions in the 1940s, when he proposed inviting the renowned American water conservancy expert Savage to China to design the Three Gorges Project.

To develop the hydropower resources of the Three Gorges and tame the Yangtze River, in the early 1920s, the great man Sun Yat-sen, with keen foresight, proposed "utilizing foreign capital" to develop Three Gorges hydropower and build the Three Gorges sluice. In the 1930s, the Nationalist Government also organized water conservancy experts to survey and study the Three Gorges hydropower and put forward development plans. On the eve of the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the issue of developing the Yangtze Three Gorges hydropower was raised again.

In May 1942, the Power Division of the Nationalist Government's Resources Committee drafted an outline for national hydropower development to develop the Yangtze Three Gorges hydropower. By the spring of 1944, the American engineer Pascoe, who served as an adviser to the Chinese government's War Production Board, submitted to the Chinese government an economic report entitled "Proposal for China to Use American Loans to Build the Three Gorges Hydroelectric Power Plant and Repay the Loans." This report was quickly adopted by the Chinese government. At the proposal of Zhang Guangdou, then a water conservancy engineer in Wanxian, Weng Wenhao, Minister of Economic Affairs and Chairman of the Resources Committee, and Qian Changzhao, Vice Chairman, discussed and invited the American water conservancy expert Savage to China to develop the Three Gorges hydropower resources. In June, Savage, who was an adviser at the Bhakra Dam in India, was invited to Chongqing to attend the China Hydropower Construction Symposium convened by the Resources Committee. After the meeting, accompanied by Huang Yuxian, Director-General of the National Hydropower Engineering Administration, and others, he conducted a hydropower survey in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River lasting more than two months.

After arriving in China, Savage developed an extremely strong interest in the development of Three Gorges hydropower. On September 20, accompanied by General Wu Qiwei, Deputy Commander of the Chinese Sixth War Zone and Commander-in-Chief of the River Defense Force, and Director Huang Yuxian, Savage boarded the "Minkang" steamer at Changshou, Sichuan, and traveled downstream to the Xiling Gorge (also known as Yichang Gorge), the front line of China's resistance against Japan, for a survey. The next afternoon, after the steamer arrived at Pingshanba at the eastern end of the Xiling Gorge, Savage and his party left the boat and went ashore, embarking on intense and dangerous survey activities. A detailed reconnaissance lasting 10 days yielded abundant first-hand data.

After Savage returned to Changshou, where the National Hydropower Engineering Administration was located, based on the preliminary survey of the Yangtze Three Gorges and its tributaries and the data obtained, he wrote the "Preliminary Report on the Yangtze Gorges Project," known as the famous "Savage Three Gorges Plan." Savage proposed selecting a dam site between Nanjinguan and Shipai, 5-15 kilometers upstream of Yichang, with a dam crest height of 250 meters, installing 48 hydroelectric generating units, each with a capacity of 110,000 kilowatts, a total installed capacity of 10.56 million kilowatts, and a power generation of 81.7 billion kilowatt-hours, with the project planned for completion within 8 years. For the selection of the dam site, he proposed five comparative options. Because the Savage Plan took into account multiple objectives such as power generation, flood control, irrigation, and navigation, the completed project would produce enormous economic and social benefits.

After the famous Savage Three Gorges Plan was issued, the Nationalist Government attached great importance to it and assigned the Resources Committee to negotiate with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation of the Department of the Interior. On November 12, 1944, the U.S. Department of State wrote to Savage regarding U.S. participation in China's Three Gorges hydropower project, offering nine points of opinion. Based on Savage's suggestions and recommendations, Cordell, a senior engineer of the U.S. Federal Power Commission, went to China to assist in the design of the Three Gorges. On February 8, 1945, the U.S. Information Service released the news that Savage would preside over the design of the Three Gorges Project. In March, Savage wrote an article in The New Republic describing the Yangtze Three Gorges dam plan. On April 13, Cordell arrived in Chongqing on the same plane as Zhang Guangdou, a Wanxian hydropower engineer previously sent to the United States for training. In May, the Three Gorges Hydropower Plan Technical Research Committee was formed, with Qian Changzhao as chairman and 12 members including Huang Yuxian and Cordell. On July 7, the National Hydropower Engineering Administration was established, with Huang Yuxian as Director, Cordell as Chief Engineer, and Zhang Guangdou as Deputy Chief Engineer.

After the victory of the War of Resistance, negotiations on Sino-American cooperation to build the Three Gorges Project entered a substantive stage. During this period, Savage also re-surveyed the Three Gorges hydropower. Just as preparations for the Three Gorges sluice project were actively underway, due to the domestic financial crisis, the national economy had almost slid to the brink of collapse and was unable to support the construction of the Three Gorges sluice project. The Nationalist Government had no choice but to announce in May 1947 that "the Three Gorges Project is temporarily suspended."

In 2003, Zhang Guangdou recalled: Mr. Savage was a highly respected gentleman and a great authority. Savage was introduced to China by me. I asked him whether he could go to China to help us. He was very friendly to China. He said that an invitation from you would not do; it had to be from the Chinese government. Later I wrote to the Chinese Resources Committee, and he was invited through the Chinese government. After he went to the Three Gorges and saw it, he said it was a good place. So the embassy said the U.S. government was prepared to lend U.S. dollars to help design the Three Gorges Project. Savage was an engineer and had no authority to do such things, so after he returned home he wrote to tell me about this, and I was greatly surprised. Later I wrote repeatedly to oppose it, but to no avail. At that time Chiang Kai-shek relied on the United States, so what use was my opposition? Large water conservancy projects like this cannot be separated from politics.

After the founding of New China, Zhang Guangdou devoted himself actively to China's water conservancy construction. Since the 1950s, in the exploration, design, and construction of the Yangtze Three Gorges water conservancy hub project, he poured in his wisdom and hard work. The people of Yichang will forever remember this leading figure in water conservancy!