Illustration: 731. Photography: Getty Images
The Big Take
Xi Ties His Legacy and China’s Economy to $167 Billion Dam
Beijing's mammoth project is a bid for stimulus, energy security and control over a river vital to millions.
Sixty times the cement of the Hoover Dam, more steel than 116 Empire State Buildings and enough concrete to build a two-lane highway around the Earth five times — that’s what will go into China’s new $167 billion hydropower project in Tibet.
Construction officially began this month on what is set to become one of the biggest infrastructure projects in history. It’s a legacy-defining gamble for President Xi Jinping as he tries to sustainably revive China’s slowing economy, tighten control over a restive region and project power far beyond the country’s borders.