(TibetanReview.net, Jul04’25) – China is demolishing 20 Tibetan villages in the upper reaches of the Yellow River (or Huang He, called Machu in Tibet) to make way for a major new hydropower dam despite evidence from Chinese scientists of the intensified risks of geological disasters and serious environmental problems, said London-based campaign group Free Tibet Jul 2, citing its research partner Tibet Watch and the Qinghai provincial government.
The group’s press release said the move shows China accelerating dam building on the upper reaches of one of Asia’s last great wild rivers in Tibet.
The new Tsiha Gorge (Chinese: Cihaxia) hydropower dam is to be built at 254 metres high on the upper reaches of Machu at the junction of Badzong (Tongde) County in Golog Prefecture and Drakkar (Xinghai) County in Tsolho Prefecture, both in Qinghai province.
It lies upriver from the massive 180-metre (590 ft) high Yangchu hydropower dam, which began operations last year, and which official media boasted had been built by AI-driven robots, the release noted.
The construction of Yangchu Dam had led to the devastation of an entire community centred around the religious heart of Atsok monastery in Palkha village, also in Drakkar county in Tsolho (Hainan) Prefecture. Monks were forced to dismantle their own homes, and, before ordering them to leave, Chinese authorities announced the removal of the monastery from the list of recognised cultural and historical sites in the county, the release noted.
A further official notice issued last month by the Drongthu Township government in Drakkar County – home to five of the twenty villages facing inundation – stated that team members had been organised to publicise policy and carry out “ideological work” to Tibetan villagers and nomads in connection with the dam construction. Clearly the authorities understood that the displacement and resettlement were unlikely to be welcomed by the local community and did not want to discuss the matter with the affected residents.
Drongthu Township is stated to be home to three monasteries as well. A QQ social media post on May 7 by the Drongthu Township government was stated to show the heads of seven villages and three monasteries being organized to clean up the area in preparation for the evacuation and dam-building.
Many of the affected villages are stated to actually lie far away from the main course of the river. And the likely reason for this wide-reaching impact is stated to be China’s standard practice of surrounding hydroelectric dams with solar farms, which require expansive, moderately sloped terrain—putting even distant communities in the path of land acquisition.
Of the affected villages, six are stated to be in Drakkar County, with Thangche Village being in Chungon Township and the villages of Dordzong, Chachen, Ramo, Ronglon, and Takthang being in Drongthu Township.
Other villages are stated to be in Machen and Badzong counties of Golok prefecture. Of them, Yugshung village is located in Ragya Township of Machen County, Bado Village in Balung Township of Badzong County, and Serthang, Kyawo, Dungkar, Chala, Chumar villages in Thanggo Township of Badzong County. Besides, Zamba, Thar, Daeukar, Mogkar, Nyinlung, Taklung and Taksoe villages are located in Sholma Township of Badzong County, the release said.
The release noted that Chinese scientists had warned of the risks of heavy infrastructure construction in a seismically unstable region where river systems are increasingly unpredictable due to climate change.
But China has only intensified the construction of dams, with the projects being undertaken by the same state-owned corporations that are building more coal-fired power stations across China, the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases.
The release noted that the cascade of nine hydropower stations on Machu river already makes the Tibetan Plateau a major exporter of electricity via ultra-high voltage power grid to the distant Chinese province of Henan, powering its intensifying industrialisation with rising carbon emissions.
These dams not only exploit the kinetic energy of a river but have also been equated by Chinese President Xi Jinping – while touring Qinghai’s capital Xining recently – with the ‘Yellow River culture’, a drive that compels Tibetans to adopt a nationalist Chinese identity, culture and language, while seeking to erase their own distinct ways of life, livelihoods and Buddhist practices, the release noted.