To correct this problem, we compared the largest dam with a famous building to show its true scale. Unlike skyscrapers, stadiums or bridges, the term "dam" covers a wide range of designs, sizes and functions, covering more than 800,000 buildings worldwide. Although this makes it almost impossible to define a single structure as the largest dam in the world, there are many key indicators that can be used to rank these incredible engineering feats.

The largest dam-China Jinping No. 1

Jinping No. 1 in Sichuan Province, China broke the record in 2014 when it became the tallest dam ever built. This 305-meter building is only one meter shorter than the Shard in London, and can hold 7.7 billion cubic meters of water, enough to submerge the entire Manhattan in a 131-meter-deep flood.

The largest dam calculated by reservoir reserves-Hoover Dam, USA

In order to create jobs and promote the development of the Southwestern United States during the Great Depression in the 1930s, the Hoover Dam was the true Titan at the time. The towering building was 221 meters above the bottom of the canyon, which was much taller than the six tallest skyscrapers in the United States at the time. It cost 3.3 million cubic meters of concrete to build, enough to provide a 4,000-kilometer highway from San Francisco to NSW Pave the way to York City.

The largest dam divided by structural volume-Tabela Dam, Pakistan

Although the concrete dam is large, the size of the dam (usually made of rock and compacted soil) has reached its limit. The Tabela Dam is located on the Indus River in Pakistan. It is the largest structural volume of any dam ever built. It requires 153 million cubic meters of material-enough to cover the entire Monaco country up to 75 meters deep.

Dam with the largest installed capacity-China Three Gorges Dam

Since many of these structures are used as hydroelectric power plants, the installed capacity of the dam (or the total output power of all its generators) is widely used as a metric to classify the dam. According to this indicator, since 2012, the Three Gorges Dam in central China has become the world's largest dam, with 34 turbines and an installed capacity of 22,500 MW. The structure is 181 meters high and stretches over 2,300 meters across the Yangtze River. Its structure is three Burj Khalifa paved end to end.

Although the Three Gorges Dam has pushed the project to the extreme, the needs of our developing countries and their growing population mean that it is only a matter of time before larger dams are built.Editor/Luo Wentao