SUP'UNG DAM

Korean Sup'ung-Dam, Chinese (Wade-Giles) Shui-feng Shui-pa, or (Pinyin) Shuifeng Shuiba hydroelectric project on the Yalu River at the Korean border with Liaoning sheng (province), China, upstream from Tan-tung. It was originally designed as a joint project of the Japanese-controlled Manchukuo government, which administered Manchuria from 1931 to 1945, and the Japanese administration in Korea to supply power for the industrial developments in Manchuria and northern Korea. Construction was begun in 1937 by the Noguchi interests, which played a large part in Korean industry. When completed in 1941, the dam was 525 feet (160 m) high and 2,790 feet (850 m) long and formed a vast reservoir (Chinese Shui-feng Shui-k'u; Korean Sup'ung-ho) 20 miles (30 km) long. By 1944 operating capacity was 450,000 kilowatt-hours. After Japan's defeat in 1945, the Soviet armies occupied Manchuria and removed the Sup'ung generating plant to the Soviet Union. The equipment was, however, restored during the first years of Chinese Communist rule, and additional capacity was added, largely with aid from the Soviet Union and eastern European countries. The Sup'ung generating plant is linked with the central Northeast (Manchurian) grid system, serving the cities of Shen-yang (Mukden), Chi-lin (Kirin), and Ha-erh-pin (Harbin), and also with the grid system in the Liaotung Peninsula, supplying L-ta and L-shun. In addition to its hydroelectric generating capacity, the Sup'ung Dam helps regulate the flow of the Yalu and is used also in irrigation.