In order to build the Three Gorges and develop the Yangtze River, China Three Gorges Project Development Corporation was established on September 27, 1993 with the approval of The State Council, and changed its name to China Three Gorges Group Corporation on September 27, 2009. China Three Gorges Corporation is a wholly state-owned enterprise with a registered capital of 111.598 billion yuan.

As of December 31, 2011, the total consolidated assets of the Group are RMB 313.125 billion and the net assets are RMB 212.499 billion. There are a total of 14,660 employees, including 12,398 employees. At the end of the year, there were 4,641 employees with a bachelor's degree or above, accounting for 37.4% of the total number of employees. There are 4,201 people with professional and technical titles, accounting for 33.9% of the total number of employees. There are 2 academicians of Chinese Academy of Engineering, 75 experts enjoying special government allowance and 2 experts with national outstanding contributions. The strategic positioning of the Group is to be a large-scale hydropower development and operation of clean energy group, the main business is hydropower project construction and management, power production, related professional technical services.

China Three Gorges Corporation is fully responsible for the construction and operation of the Three Gorges Project. The three Gorges Project was officially started on December 14, 1994. On November 8, 1997, the river was successfully closed. In 2003, the three goals of water storage, navigation and power generation of the second phase of the project were achieved on schedule. In 2009, except for the ship lift approved by the state to postpone the construction, the three Gorges Project's preliminary design and construction task was completed as scheduled, passed the acceptance of 175 meters of water storage, from construction to operation. In 2010, the Three Gorges Reservoir successfully filled water to 175 meters, marking the three Gorges Project's flood control, power generation, navigation, water supply and other functions have met the design requirements, its comprehensive benefits began to play.

The State authorized China Three Gorges Corporation to develop and construct four giant power stations at the lower reaches of the Jinsha River: Xiluodu, Xiangjiaba, Wudongdong and Baihetan. Xiluodu and Xiangjiaba hydropower stations began construction in 2005 and 2006 respectively, and are scheduled to be put into operation in 2013 and 2012 respectively. The preliminary survey and design work of Wudongdong and Baihetan hydropower stations is in progress. The four plants have an installed capacity of about 43 million kilowatts.