What Made China Destroy 300 Dams And Pull The Plug On Its Own Hydropower Stations?

Last Updated:July 12, 2025, 09:21 IST

China has torn down 300 dams and decommissioned 342 hydropower stations along the Red River, a major Yangtze tributary flowing through Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan

China’s Chishui He, also known as the Red River, is a major tributary of the upper Yangtze River. Photo: Shutterstock

In a sweeping environmental initiative, China has dismantled 300 of 357 dams and decommissioned 342 out of 373 small hydropower stations on the Chishui He, also known as the Red River, a major tributary of the upper Yangtze River.

The Red River spans over 400 km, cutting across Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan provinces in southwestern China. The changes, implemented as part of a restoration drive that began in 2020, were reported by China’s official Xinhua news agency, as cited by the South China Morning Post.

Authorities said these steps were necessary to revive fish migration routes, restore river flow, and rebuild spawning grounds that had been blocked or degraded by years of unchecked hydropower expansion.

Why Did China Take This Step?

The Yangtze River is the longest in Asia and plays a vital role in China’s ecological health, food security, and economy. But over the decades, rapid infrastructure development—particularly dam-building and hydropower expansion—has taken a toll on aquatic life.

The Red River, once considered one of the last bastions for rare and endemic fish species in the Yangtze’s upper reaches, became increasingly fragmented. Dams and power stations obstructed water flow, reduced the volume downstream, and even caused sections of the river to dry up. The dense dam network also severed migration routes between breeding and non-breeding areas, disrupting the life cycle of native fish.

The Chinese government’s decision to reverse course follows growing concern over the loss of biodiversity and the near-extinction of key aquatic species.

The Case Of The Yangtze Sturgeon

At the heart of this ecological rethink lies the Yangtze sturgeon, a prehistoric freshwater giant that once thrived across the river system. Along with the now-extinct Chinese paddlefish, the sturgeon was declared “extinct in the wild" in 2022 by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), a symbolic marker of how far biodiversity had collapsed.

The sturgeon’s natural population began declining in the 1970s, primarily due to dam construction, overfishing, and habitat loss. Since 2000, no naturally bred juvenile sturgeon had been found in the Yangtze.

However, the Red River’s restoration project has triggered a rare reversal in fortunes. According to SCMP, scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Hydrobiology released two batches of Yangtze sturgeon into the river in 2023 and 2024. The fish adapted successfully to the natural environment.

Then, in April 2025, researchers released 20 adult sturgeon into a section of the Red River in Guizhou province to test for reproduction viability. “By mid-April, they were showing natural spawning behaviour and successfully hatching fry," said Liu Fei, researcher, Institute of Hydrobiology, quoted by SCMP.

This observation confirmed that the Red River’s ecological conditions had recovered enough to support habitat and reproductive needs of the species once thought gone.

What Experts Are Saying

According to Zhou Jianjun, a professor of hydraulic engineering at Tsinghua University, decommissioning a dam doesn’t necessarily mean dismantling the structure. The key is to stop electricity generation and change the method of water control to meet ecological needs.

“The key is not whether the facilities still exist, but that, after power generation stops, the method of water control can be changed to meet ecological needs," Zhou told SCMP.

The statement underlines the shift from infrastructure-led river management to ecosystem-based planning, where ecological restoration takes precedence over uninterrupted power output.

How The Red River’s Biodiversity Is Responding

Monitoring data from the Institute of Hydrobiology shows a significant increase in the number of fish species across various segments of the Red River.

This recovery is not limited to the Yangtze sturgeon. Other rare species, amphibians, and invertebrates are also showing signs of resurgence. The dismantling of hydropower stations has allowed natural water levels, sediment transport, and migratory channels to re-establish.

In a broader government update issued in August 2024, Beijing confirmed that the Yangtze basin’s aquatic biodiversity had improved measurably since the ecological policies were enacted.

Authorities noted a decline in harmful activities like sand mining, which further supports spawning and feeding behaviour of aquatic life. Water quality across large stretches of the Yangtze and its tributaries, including the Red River, was rated as “excellent."

Not An Isolated Effort: The Yangtze-Wide Push

The Red River restoration is part of a larger ecological policy shift in China, focused on reversing environmental damage across the Yangtze River Economic Belt.

A key pillar of this strategy is the 10-year fishing ban imposed in 2020, which restricts commercial fishing across the main stem and key tributaries. The goal is to give fish populations time to regenerate after years of decline.

Hydropower regulation is another cornerstone. For instance, in Sichuan province, officials had rectified 5,131 small hydropower stations by end-2021, shutting down 1,223 of them, as per a local report quoted by SCMP.

In tandem, the government has enforced strict sand mining prohibitions in vulnerable river zones to protect breeding and feeding habitats.

What Does This Mean For China’s Hydropower Plans?

China is the world’s largest producer of hydropower, and small hydropower stations were once championed for rural electrification. However, many were built without adequate environmental oversight.

The move to dismantle these stations on the Red River signals a strategic shift, where ecological sustainability is starting to outweigh short-term energy needs, especially in ecologically critical regions.

While this does not suggest a retreat from hydropower altogether, it shows Beijing’s growing willingness to course-correct in areas where environmental degradation has reached alarming levels.

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