For Tibetans, Yamdrok Yurntso is a 'La-tso'(repository of spiritual power) mystically linked with the fortunes of their land and nation. 'Yumtso' or 'turquoise lake' is the term for fresh-water lakes whose unusual mineral composition often lends them a brilliant colour.
For the Chinese authorities, Tibet is a wilderness with no intrinsic value except for the industrial 'resources' that can be extracted from it. The sacred lake is now a reservoir to be drained for generation of power.
Says a May 1993 Xinhua news agency feature, "Despite the cold and lack of oxygen at high altitudes, and despite a shortage of construction equipment and inefficient logistical support, the detachment's officers and men pitched tents, slept on the ground and exhibited a spirit of working in unity and dedicating oneself selflessly". The dedicated empire-builders that Xinhua refers to are from an engineering division of the Peoples' Armed Police, which is a principal contender for large civil projects in China, and no doubt considered a particularly appropriate contractor in Tibet.
The plan, which several independent hydropower experts describe as unrealistically ambitious, is to bore a nine kilometre long tunnel through the northern mountain wall and to make the lake water tumble into turbines almost 1000 metres below in the main Tsangpo valley. During "off-peak hours", Tsangpo river water will be pumped back up this massive incline to replenish the lake.