A Brief History of Sandouping

Sandouping is a town located on the right (southern) bank of the Yangtze River, best known as the location of the Three Gorges Project hydroelectric power station, which is the world's largest power plant.   The predecessor of today's Sandouping, the village of Huangniupu (黄牛铺, "Yellow Cow Post Station") was established during the reign of the Hongzhi Emperor in 1496. Sandouping District was created in March 1949 and transformed into Sandouping Town in February 1984. 
  Sandouping used to be a small fishing village until it was selected to be the site of the Three Gorges Dam. In 1999, at the peak of the construction, over 40,000 workers lived in Sandouping. At the time, special permits were required to enter the town. Six out of nineteen Sandouping's villages are populated by families that have been resettled from the areas flooded by the waters of the Three Gorges Reservoir, or, earlier, the Gezhouba Reservoir.
  Benefited from the Three Gorges Project, the town has thrived as be a well-known tourist site within and beyond China. In March 2010, the town was recognized by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development as National tourism town with characteristic landscapes, and in June 2010,  recognized by the provincial government of Hubei as tourism town of Hubei Province.

References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandouping
http://www.hubei.gov.cn/mlhb/lymz/dyp/201508/t20150803_698380.shtml