The damming of the Three Gorges Project's diversion canal on the Yangtze River was successfully completed at 9:48 a.m. Wednesday.
The river's natural flow started to pass through the flood discharging holes of the Three Gorges Dam.
The river was conducted to run through the diversion canal in 1997, which was dug for the second-phase construction of the Three Gorges Project.
The construction of the world's largest water conservancy project is expected for completion on schedule in 2009, when it will be able to greatly control flooding of the Yangtze and generate 84.7 billion kilowatt hours of electricity annually.
The first Yangtze River damming was made in 1981 for the construction of the Gezhouba Power Plant, about 20 km downstream.
(Xinhua News Agency November 6, 2002)