China has often been subject to catastrophic flooding. Previously such floods, as they have experienced this year, would have led to tens of thousands of deaths, massive loss of farmland and the threat of famine. When China decided at the end of the 20th century to build the Three Gorges Dam, the largest dam of its kind in the world, there was some controversy. Too big, too expensive, and it wouldn’t help in a major flood, were the common arguments. But today the Three Gorges Dam received its largest contingent of water since it was constructed in 2003, and is continuing to perform. At 8 a.m. the inbound flow reached 75,000 cubic/meters per second.