About

Attacking the Three Gorges Dam, also known as Feed Me The Three Gorges Dam, refers to memes and discourse about the United States targeting the Three Gorges Dam in a possible future conflict with China. Construction of the Three Gorges Dam, located on the Yangtze River in Central China, was completed in 2012. It is the world's largest hydroelectric power station with over 22,500 MW capacity. The dam has also been discussed as a potential military target in conflicts excluding the U.S., particularly between China and Taiwan. Jokes about the dam being targeted are especially prominent on the 4chan weapon board, /k/, and the subreddit /r/NonCredibleDefense (NCD). In 2025, amid rising trade tensions between the U.S. and China, several internet users began citing the dam as a possible military target. This prompted more memes and viral debates between those presenting the dam as a valid military target and those criticizing the play as strategically weak.

Origin

Three Gorges Dam is the world's largest hydroelectric power station, located on the Yangtze River in Hubei province, China. Construction began in 1994 and was completed in 2012. It spans 2,335 meters and holds a reservoir of over 39 billion cubic meters.

Designed to generate power, control flooding and improve navigation, the dam has a capacity of 22,500 MW. Despite its benefits, the project displaced over 1.3 million people and has raised environmental and geological concerns, including increased landslide risk and ecosystem disruption.^[1]

Play

The Three Gorges Dam has long been a subject of military and geopolitical speculation. Given its scale and centrality to China's power grid and flood control, analysts have debated its vulnerability in a war scenario. Chinese officials have repeatedly stated that the dam is built to withstand attack and that attempts to attack the dam would provoke a nuclear response.^[2]

Discourse about the potential of the U.S. attacking the dam in the event of war with China appeared online as early as the mid-2010s, particularly on 4chan's /k/ weapons board. For example, an early post discussing the possibility of the dam being targeted was shared to the /k/ board on 4chan^[21] on May 16th, 2016.

Jokes about the United States attacking the Three Gorges Dam escalated amid rising trade tensions in the early 2020s, with Redditor /u/Thotslayer4447 posting a meme to the subreddit^[3] /r/NonCredibleDefense about a rogue pilot attacking the dam on January 10th, 2022, gathering over 3,500 upvotes in three years.

Spread

On July 20th 2022, an anonymous 4chan^[22] user wrote, "feed me the 3 gorges dam" on /k/. On January 25th, 2023, Redditor /u/M4nd4l0r3_zo15 shared a screenshot from 4chan to the subreddit^[19] /r/greentext, showing a B-2 Spirit stealth bomber alongside text that read, "Feed me the Three Gorges Dam." The post gathered over 500 upvotes in two years. The image of the B-2 appears to be credited to a Major Allen Clark, as per TWZ.^[20]

​In November 2023, shortly after a summit between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, China escalated military activities around Taiwan, including flying aircraft across the Taiwan Strait's median line and deploying warships nearby.^[4]​

On November 11th, 2023, X^[5] user @DaOfficialVigil posted a video showing several people looking up at the sky as the American national anthem plays. The video was captioned, "Three Gorges Dam workers watching a fleet of B-21's and F-35's approach." The tweet gathered over 1,000 likes in two years.

Three Gorges Dam workers watching a fleet of B-21’s and F-35’s approach: pic.twitter.com/5yRAOXLjvf

— Wiggle Wiggle Vigil (@DaOfficialVigil) November 11, 2023

On March 16th, 2024, Redditor /u/HistorianSlayer posted a Trolley Problem meme to the subreddit^[6] /u/NonCredibleDefense about attacking the Three Gorges Dam, gathering over 1,800 upvotes in a year.

Memes about attacking the Three Gorges Dam saw a resurgence amid the escalating trade war between the U.S. and China in early April 2025, with X^[7] user @cimmerian_v posting a photo of the Dam on April 8th, gathering over 8,000 likes in three days, which prompted X^[8] user @Triggeredal to write, "a uniquely American culture trait is threatening the lives of millions of uninvolved innocent people because they don't get their way." The post gathered over 29,000 likes in a day.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References