One of the main reasons that the Three Gorges dam was built was to prevent flooding further downstream. The need for a dam was highlighted in 1954 when people were killed as a result of flooding of the Yangtze River.
Arab Spring refers to the democratic uprisings that arose independently and spread across the Arab world in 2011. The movement originated in Tunisia in December 2010 and quickly took hold in Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan.
In the year since the beginning of the Arab Spring, leaders have been ousted in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Yemen. At the start, it would have been hard to imagine how much the movement would spread throughout the region, Hamid says, but it certainly can't be said that it came out of nowhere.