Submarine Volcano - Núi lửa ngầm dưới biển

Submarine volcanoes are underwater fissures in the Earth’s surface from which magma can erupt.

They are estimated to account for 75% of annual magma output. The vast majority are located near areas of tectonic plate movement, known as ocean ridges. Although most are located in the depths of seas and oceans, some also exist in shallow water, which can spew material into the air during an eruption. Hydrothermal vents, sites of abundant biological activity, are commonly found near submarine volcanoes.

Tongue Tattoos - Xăm lưỡi

Tattoos are a time honored tradition of body modification that is a marking or design of indelible ink that is inserted into the dermis layer of skin to permanently stay—at least until modern laser techniques were perfected or if the person wanted a large scar from where he or she dig out the entire chunk of flesh that contained the mark. Throughout the centuries, countless tribal peoples have practiced tattooing even though the name for it that we use today actually comes from the Polynesian language’s word for them of “tatau.” The purposes of these inked markings vary for each culture, group, and time period that ever used them. Sometimes they are for spiritual purposes such as to protect against evil or to draw certain forms of magic to the person. They can also be used as identification. One of the most notorious forms of tattoo identification was the numbering of prisoners in Nazi concentration camps, but tattoos have also been used to mark rank, status, or even links with particular groups (such as gangs or even certain ethnicities).

Image Source

Yet, the most common form of tattoos in today’s world is for decorative purposes to merely show control over one’s physical body and its outside appearance. Since these instances of body art have become more about beautification and choice, it has made the world of tattoos explode with choices. What do you want drawn on you forever? Where do you want it? Each answer is unique to each person since the majorities of tattoos are very personal—even if they are matching tattoos with a friend, family member, or loved one. However, tattoos have taken on a bit of a twist lately by becoming very popular markings to have on one’s tongue. Since in the mainstream culture of the Western World tattoos are considered to be something to at least be hidden if they are to be placed on your body at all, the tongue provides an interesting platform for the designs and personal body artwork that can remain discrete. The tongue has become a favorite palate for self expression in the minds of young adults who are part of Western culture.

Image Source

Studs, pins, and pigments are all ways of putting a personal spin on someone’s tongue as a way of self expression and exploration into the realm of body modification. Yet, the tongue is a very sensitive and delicate part of the body. We can pick up subtleties in taste and can get quite a jolt of pain from just accidentally biting it. This fragility makes both piercing and decoration difficult to say the least and possibly dangerous if not performed by a trained and skilled professional who uses single use disposable gloves and equipment that is washed with disinfectant before employed and autoclaved (sterilized with high pressure hot steam) well to avoid any chances of infection.

The Process

Image Source

Even though tongue tattoos are applied to the relatively small surface of the tongue, they can take quite a time to complete. The tongue has to be firmly held in place (since it has a habit of unconsciously twitching or moving) and kept still for the tattoo artist to properly draw the design with perfection. The stabilizing of the tongue for tattoos is achieved by the same device that is used to hold the tongue for a piercing as well if you were worried that you would have to keep your tongue still of your own control. Limited size of the tattooing area does not matter when such delicacies are needed for tongue tattoos. Since the tongue is actually a muscle, the pain associated with tattooing of the tongue tends to be the same as a tattoo on other places of the body. Most people describe it as a tickling followed by a numbing sensation while the design is drawn on the tongue.

Image Source

Many people wrongly assume that since the tongue is ultra sensitive and a different type of flesh than the skin normally used for tattooing that the day after having a tongue tattoo applied they will wake up with a bleeding mouth or even a mouth full of blood. This is a wrong conclusion that indicates a severe problem with the way the tattooing was done, being the actual cause behind the irregular bleeding. The tongue will most certainly be sensitive for the first few days though as a crust of skin develops on the muscle which will eventually flake off. During the period when this covering forms and later fades away, the coloring of the tattoo may appear different from the ones you intended for the design. The colors have a tendency to look pale or “off” during the scabbing of the tattoo, but you do not need to worry as this is a normal occurrence and they will settle into the colors you looked at and chose before the application of the tattoo once it has fully healed. Your tongue will be very sensitive for some time after the tattoo (particularly while the crust of skin is growing there tends to be a twinging pain), but any intense pain after the first day or so is an indicator of a problem and needs to be looked at by a doctor. After the scab flakes off the skin of the tongue, the new tongue tattoo will look like it has a sheen of shininess or an even waxy appearance. Like all tattoos this “new tattoo” shimmer will fade slightly over time, particularly since saliva is a strong catalyst for the wearing down of anything in the mouth as its role as a digestive in our bodies. Yet, once the crust completely flakes off, the tongue tattoo will become an absorbed part of the tongue to look as merely a colored design drawn on a normal tongue with average look and texture.

Tongue Piercings

Image Source

Those who have tongue piercings are actually some of the most common people to later get tongue tattoos. The tattoo on the tongue is generally used to highlight or outline the piercing (or piercings). If a proper design is chosen, the piercing and tattoo on the tongue can truly work together to accentuate each other—making it so that your attempt at personal beautification and body modification would be very hard to go unnoticed.

Whole Or Part?

Image Source

The question of what to get as your tongue tattoo is a very difficult, personal analysis. However, one of the primary ways to limit the millions and millions of design choices is to figure out if you want a tattoo to cover your entire tongue or just part of it. At the moment, the most popular form of tongue tattoos is a small, simple design on the end of the tongue which can be easily noticed when the person is talking or freely exhibited to those the person wishes to show by simply sticking out his or her tongue. Simple, straightforward designs such as stars or hearts are very favored choices at the tip of the tongue on the lower half of the muscle. The tattoos which cover the whole tongue tend to be more personal and definitely more intricate as they take up more space.

Top 10 Castles of the World - Mười lâu dài nổi tiếng thế giới

I’m in love with medieval times, with it’s knights, princess, knighthood, fair speech, battles, and especially with monumental castles. I have seen a lot of castles on the net, and I’ve try to make a list of my own favorite castles. So, I’ve finally came to my own top ten castles of the world. I’d like to hear your comments, and your suggestions about castles; maybe there is a castle that I’ve skip in my quest.

Neuschwanstein Castle

Royal palace in the Bavarian Alps of Germany, the most famous of three royal palaces built for Louis II of Bavaria, sometimes referred to as Mad King Ludwig, who grew up nearby at Hohenschwangau Castle. And my favourite and most beautiful of all!

source

PALACE OF VERSAILLES

The Palace of Versailles was the official residence of the Kings of France from 1682 until 1790. It was originally a hunting lodge, built in 1624, by Louis XIII. It was expanded by Louis XIV beginning in 1669. He used it as a little lodge as a secret refuge for his amorous trysts with the lovely Louise de la Valliere and built a fairy tale park around it. Jules Hardouin Mansart, the king’s principal architect, drew the plans to enlarge what was turning more and more into a palace from A Thousand and One Nights. The terrace that overlooked the gardens was removed to make way for the magnificent Hall of Mirrors, the Galarie de Glaces. It is here from which the king radiated his power and where the destiny of Europe was decided over a century. The French classical architecture was complemented by extensive gardens.

source

CHENONCEAU

Chenonceaux, small agricultural community in the department of Indre-et-Loire in northwestern France,18 miles east of Tours. Located on the Cher River. Chenonceaux is best known as the site of the 16th-century Chateau de Chenonceaux, which is situated on the north bank of the river.
In 1515 Thomas Bohier, revenue collector for King Francis I, began the construction of the Chateau de Chenonceaux. Unfinished at the time of his death, construction of the chateau was completed by Bohier’s wife and son. In 1535, however, Francis I took the estate in payment of debts. King Henry II, son of Francis I, gave the chateaux to Diane de Poitiers, duchesse de Valentinois, who extended the structure by a bridge across the Cher. Catherine de Medicis, widow of Henry II, forced Diane de Poitiers to deed the chateaux to her. Catherine de Medicis constructed the gallery above the bridge and the stables known as the Batiment-des-Dames. The chateau became her favorite residence, and it was there that her son Francis II and Mary, Queen of Scots, were married in 1560.

source

The Chateau of Chambord

Chambord, chateau, park, and village in the department of Loire-et-Cher in central France. The chateau of Chambord was a retreat for French kings, especially Louis XIV It was under his auspices that French dramatist Moliere’s Monsieur de Pourceaugnac and Le bourgeois Gentilhomme were first produced there.

source

Linderhof

Ludwig II built this secluded hunting lodge, it was known as the Kings Hut. Ludwig decided that this will be a New Versailles. It was planned as a modest villa but had become a splendid Rococo palace in the ornate French style. Linderhof is the smallest of the three royal castles, and the only one which was completely finished. (1878).

source

Tower of London

Castle building was an essential part of the Norman Conquest; when Duke William of Normandy invaded England in 1066 his first action after landing was to build a castle.After his coronation in Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1066, William ordered the construction of a castle in London for his triumphal entry. nitially the Tower had consisted of a modest enclosure built into the south-east corner of the Roman City walls, but by the late 1070s, with the initial completion of the White Tower, it had become the most fearsome of all. Nothing had been seen like it in England before. It was built by Norman masons and English (Anglo-Saxon) labor drafted in from the countryside. It was intended to protect the river route from Danish attack, but also and more importantly to dominate the City physically and visually.The White Tower was protected to the east and south by the old Roman City walls (a full height fragment can be seen just by Tower Hill underground station), while the north and west sides were protected by ditches as much as 750m (25ft) wide and 3.40m (lift) deep and an earthwork with a wooden wall on top. It is important for us today to remember that the functions of the Tower from the 1070s until the late 19th century were established by its Norman founders. The Tower was never primarily intended to protect London from external invasion, although, of course, it could have done so if necessary. Nor was it ever intended to be the principal residence of the kings and queens of England, though many did in fact spend periods of time there. Its primary function was always to provide a base for royal power in the City of London and a stronghold to which the royal family could retreat in times of civil disorder.

source

Leeds, Kent

Leeds Castle, acclaimed as the most romantic castle in England, is located in south-east England, built on two adjacent island in the river Len.Leeds Castle was originally a manor of the Saxon royal family possibly as early as the reign of Ethelbert IV ( 856-860). The first castle was an earthwork enclosure whose wooden palisade was converted to stone and provided with two towers along the perimeter. This is now vanished. Traces of arches in a vault thought to be Norman were found at the beginning of this century. Around 1119 Robert Crevecoeur started to build a stone castle on the site, establishing his donjon where the Gloriette now is. Stephen, Count of Blois, and his cousin the Empress Matilda contested the crown of England. In 1139 Matilda invaded England with the help of his brother Robert, Earl of Gloucester, who held Leeds castle, but Kent was loyal to king Stephen and following a short siege he took control of the castle.The castle came into the possession of Edward I (1278) . He rebuilt much of the castle as it stood at the beginning of his reign, and enlarged it, providing an outer stone curtain round the edge of the larger island, with cylindrical open-backed flanking towers and a square-plan water-gate on the south-east. The gatehouse at the south-west, a single tower pierced by an arched passage was improved.Henry VIII, the most famous of all the owners of Leeds Castles, expended large sums in enlarging and beautifying the whole range of buildings. At the same time, he carefully retained the defenses of the castle for he often had cause to fear invasion from either France or the Spanish . The king entrusted the work of alteration to his great friend Sir Henry Guidford.Leeds has been constantly inhabited and rebuilt since then. Most of the castle today is the result of the nineteenth-century reconstruction and addition.

source

Blois

Dominating the Loire River, the royal castle of Blois is not only one of the most prestigious Renaissance monuments in France but also a brilliant illustration of the evolution of the French architecture from the Middle ages to the 17th century.About the middle of the 10th century, the name of Thibaud I is recorded Count of Blois, he was the founder of the family who remained in power until 1230. Blois became the most important town in the region. The first stone castle was built to protect the town dates back to that period. An independent bastion surrounded the castle, and followed the line of the headland on which it was erected. The numerous medieval remains still exists. The best preserved medieval tower is situated on a terrace overlooking the Loire.While the Franco-Anglo was (named the Hundred Years War) raged in the real, an event took place that determined the future of the county of Blois, the ancient fortress became a royal castle. At the end of the 14th. century, the county of Blois was sold to Prince Louis of Orleans, son of the king of France Charles V. He lived in the castle for 25 years attracting a small court of scholars and poets. His grandson, Louis XII became king of France in 1498 and decided to move to Blois, in this way, the small town became a royal town and the capital of the Kingdom.Under Louis XII and Francis I the town of Blois grew considerably. But after the disaster of Pavia in 1525, Francis I never returned to Blois and his successors only paid short visits to the town. According to French and Gothic tradition, the initials and emblems of the owners of the place are sculptured in the stone: fleur de lis for the king and ermine spots for the queen, Anne de Bretagne. The equestrian statue of the king crowns the main entrance of the castle. The emblem of the king, the salamander, is sculptured eleven times in high relief on the Francis I facade. The staircase, which was at the center of the facade before Gaston d”Orleans began to modify the castle is a masterpiece. When the Italianate straight flights of stairs appeared in the Loire Valley after the Gothic period, the shape of the spiral staircase in a protruding octagonal cage was considered rather ordinary. The staircase, with its three floors of balconies looking on to the Court of Honor, is perfectly suitable for the display of more and more sumptuous ceremonies.

source

Nymphenburg

The former summer residence of the rulers of Bavaria is located in the west part of the city in the middle of one of Munich’s most beautiful parks. Five generations of Wittelsbach rulers were involved in the construction of this Baroque castle.
The building of Nymphenburg Castle began in the reign of the Elector Ferdinand Maria: overjoyed by the birth of his son and heir, Max Emanuel, he had the central section built for his wife in the style of an Italian villa (Agostino Barelli, 1664-74). In about 1700, Max Emanuel commissioned Enrico Zuccali and Antonio Viscardi to extend the castle by adding galleries and pavilions.The central section owes its present appearance to the efforts of Josef Effner, who in 1715, designed the pilasters, arched windows and busts that now grace the exterior. A few years later, the south section of the castle was added to serve as the court stables. As a counterpart, the orangerie was added to the north.Central section: Stone Hall (Steinerner Saal; 1755-57) with ceiling frescoes by J. B. and F Zimmermann (Homage to the Goddess Hora); the Rococo stucco work is based on designs by Cuvillies.

source

Mont St. Michael

Le Mont-Saint-Michel, rocky, cone-shaped islet in northwestern France, in the Gulf of Saint-Malo, connected by a causeway with the mainland. The islet, celebrated for its Benedictine abbey, has small houses and shops on its lowest level. Above these stand the monastic buildings, many of which date from the 13th century and are considered outstanding examples of Gothic architecture. The entire islet is crowned by the abbey church, about 73 m (about 240 ft) above sea level.The first chapel on this site was founded in 708 by Aubert, Bishop of Avranches , after the Archangel Michael has appeared to him in a dream. The Archangel Michel appeared here in the year 708. The Abbey takes the name of Mont saint Michel. The oratory, consecrated in 709 was served by a community of canons. It apparently survived the Norman invasions, but the observance of the rule became very relaxed. In 966 Richard I, Duke of Normandy, established there the Benedictine monks from St. Wandrille Abbeyunder the direction of Abbot Maynard, who began the reconstructions of the church and other buildings. The church was burnt in 922 and rebuilt on a larger scale by Abbot Hildebert II from 1023, at the time of the monastic reforms in Normandy carried out by Richard II and William of Volpiano. Mont Saint-Michel was built in a strong rock that measures 84 meters height. It is pure granite and is so hard that has resisted the passage of time.Mont Saint Michel was built as a medieval castle. It has two large towers to defend the entrance to the castle. St. Michael is a surety for freedom and thus this sanctuary also became a symbol of the allied landing in Normandy during the Second World War.

An Engineering Wonder-Sky Park Singapore - Kỳ quan Công nghệ - Công Viên Sky Park ở Singapore

It is a public park that is located on the top of the 3x50 storey high tower building. It is one of the world’s ever best structures. The beauty of the resort starts with three 55 storey towers. The edge of the pool is 146 m long. Pool is made of stainless steel which weighs 422,000 pounds and has the water capacity of 376,500 gallons. There are restaurants, nightclubs, gardens, hundreds of trees and plants in Sky Park.

Nó là một công viên nằm trên của của ba tòa tháp cao 55 tầng. Đây là một trong những cấu trúc đẹp nhất thế giới. Vẻ đẹp của khu nghỉ mát bắt đầu với ba tòa tháp 55 tháp tầng. Các cạnh của hồ bơi là dài 146m. Hồ bơi được làm bằng thép không gỉ trọng lượng 422.000 pound và thể tích nước là 376.500 gallon. Có nhà hàng, hộp đêm, vườn, hàng trăm cây cối và thực vật trong công viên Sky Park.

The Water Hegemon Trung Quốc: Hải Bá

The Water Hegemon	Trung Quốc: Bá quyền về sông nước
By Brahma Chellaney	Brahma Chellaney 2011-10-14
NEW DELHI – International discussion about China’s rise has focused on its increasing trade muscle, growing maritime ambitions, and expanding capacity to project military power. One critical issue, however, usually escapes attention: China’s rise as a hydro-hegemon with no modern historical parallel.	NEW DELHI – Cuộc thảo luận của cộng đồng quốc tế về sự trỗi dậy của Trung Quốc đã và đang tập trung vào tiềm năng thương mại đang gia tăng, tham vọng trên biển ngày một lớn và khả năng củng cố sức mạnh quân sự của nước này. Nhưng một vấn đề then chốt thường bị bỏ qua: sự vươn lên của Trung Quốc, một bá quyền trên sông nước, chưa từng có tiền lệ trong lịch sử hiện đại.
No other country has ever managed to assume such unchallenged riparian preeminence on a continent by controlling the headwaters of multiple international rivers and manipulating their cross-border flows. China, the world’s biggest dam builder – with slightly more than half of the approximately 50,000 large dams on the planet – is rapidly accumulating leverage against its neighbors by undertaking massive hydro-engineering projects on transnational rivers.	Chưa từng có nước nào tìm cách nắm thế thượng phong trên những vùng đất ven sông trên cả một lục địa mà không ai có thể thách thức, bằng cách kiểm soát thượng nguồn của những dòng sông chảy qua nhiều quốc gia và điều chỉnh dòng chảy xuyên biên giới của chúng. Trung Quốc là quốc gia xây nhiều đập nhất thế giới – gần một nửa của tổng số 50.000 con đập lớn trên hành tinh – họ đang nhanh chóng tích lũy được ảnh hưởng đối với các quốc gia láng giềng bằng cách xây nhiều đập thủy điện trên những dòng sông chảy qua nhiều nước.
Asia’s water map fundamentally changed after the 1949 Communist victory in China. Most of Asia’s important international rivers originate in territories that were forcibly annexed to the People’s Republic of China. The Tibetan Plateau, for example, is the world’s largest freshwater repository and the source of Asia’s greatest rivers, including those that are the lifeblood for mainland China and South and Southeast Asia. Other such Chinese territories contain the headwaters of rivers like the Irtysh, Illy, and Amur, which flow to Russia and Central Asia.	Sau chiến thắng của cộng sản Trung Quốc vào năm 1949, bản đồ thủy văn châu Á đã có những thay đổi cơ bản. Phần lớn những dòng sông chính của châu Á đều bắt nguồn từ những vùng lãnh thổ bị sáp nhập một cách cưỡng bức vào nước Cộng hòa nhân dân Trung Hoa. Thí dụ, cao nguyên Tây Tạng, khu vực chứa nước ngọt lớn nhất thế giới và là cội nguồn của những dòng sông lớn nhất châu Á, trong đó có những con sông huyết mạch của Trung Hoa lục địa và những nước Đông Nam Á. Những khu vực khác của Trung Quốc cũng là cội nguồn của các dòng sông như Irtysh, Illy và Amur, chảy qua Nga và các nước Trung Á.
This makes China the source of cross-border water flows to the largest number of countries in the world. Yet China rejects the very notion of water sharing or institutionalized cooperation with downriver countries.	Điều đó làm cho Trung Quốc trở thành nguồn của những con sông chảy qua nhiều nước nhất trên thế giới. Nhưng Trung Quốc lại bác bỏ chính khái niệm chia sẻ nguồn nước hay là hợp tác với các nước ở hạ lưu.
Whereas riparian neighbors in Southeast and South Asia are bound by water pacts that they have negotiated between themselves, China does not have a single water treaty with any co-riparian country. Indeed, having its cake and eating it, China is a dialogue partner but not a member of the Mekong River Commission, underscoring its intent not to abide by the Mekong basin community’s rules or take on any legal obligations.	Trong khi các nước láng giềng nằm trên bờ những dòng sông ở Đông Nam và Nam Á đã ký những thỏa nhuận về hợp tác thì Trung Quốc lại chưa có bất kỳ thỏa ước về chia sẻ nguồn nước với bất kỳ nước nào. Trung Quốc được hưởng lợi và là bên đối thoại chứ không phải thành viên Ủy ban hợp tác sông Mekong, có ý khẳng định là họ không tuân thủ quy tắc của cộng đồng các quốc gia lưu vực sông Mekong hoặc nhận bất cứ trách nhiệm pháp lý nào.
Worse, while promoting multilateralism on the world stage, China has given the cold shoulder to multilateral cooperation among river-basin states. The lower-Mekong countries, for example, view China’s strategy as an attempt to “divide and conquer.”	Tồi tệ hơn nữa là trong khi khuyến khích chủ nghĩa đa phương trên trường quốc tế thì Trung Quốc lại nhún vai trước sự hợp tác đa phương giữa các nước lưu vực dòng sông này. Các nước hạ lưu sông Mekong coi chiến lược của Trung Quốc là “chia để trị”.
Although China publicly favors bilateral initiatives over multilateral institutions in addressing water issues, it has not shown any real enthusiasm for meaningful bilateral action. As a result, water has increasingly become a new political divide in the country’s relations with neighbors like India, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Nepal.	Mặc dù Trung Quốc tỏ thái độ công khai ưu ái sáng kiến song phương so với đa phương trong việc giải quyết các vấn đề về nước, nhưng họ lại không thể hiện bất kỳ sự nhiệt tình nào đối với những hành động song phương. Kết quả là nước càng ngày càng trở thành nguồn gốc chia rẽ chính trị mới trong quan hệ với các nước như Ấn Độ, Nga, Kazakhstan và Nepal.
China deflects attention from its refusal to share water, or to enter into institutionalized cooperation to manage common rivers sustainably, by flaunting the accords that it has signed on sharing flow statistics with riparian neighbors. These are not agreements to cooperate on shared resources, but rather commercial accords to sell hydrological data that other upstream countries provide free to downriver states.	Trung Quốc tìm cách lái sự chú ý của dư luận khỏi việc họ từ chối chia sẻ nguồn nước hoặc tham gia hợp tác nhằm quản lý các dòng sông một cách bền vững bằng cách khoe những thỏa thuận mà họ đã ký với các nước khác về việc chia sẻ số liệu thống kê về lưu lượng với các nước láng giềng. Đây không phải là những thỏa thuận về hợp tác mà là thỏa thuận thương mại về việc cung cấp số liệu mà các nước thượng lưu khác thường cung cấp miễn phí cho các nước ở hạ lưu.
In fact, by shifting its frenzied dam building from internal rivers to international rivers, China is now locked in water disputes with almost all co-riparian states. Those disputes are bound to worsen, given China’s new focus on erecting mega-dams, best symbolized by its latest addition on the Mekong – the 4,200-megawatt Xiaowan Dam, which dwarfs Paris’s Eiffel Tower in height – and a 38,000-megawatt dam planned on the Brahmaputra at Metog, close to the disputed border with India. The Metog Dam will be twice as large as the 18,300-megawatt Three Gorges Dam, currently the world’s largest, construction of which uprooted at least 1.7 million Chinese.	Trên thực tế, bằng cách đẩy việc xây dựng với tốc độ điên khùng các con đập trên những dòng sông nội địa sang xây dựng đập trên những dòng sông chảy qua nhiều nước, Trung Quốc hiện đang vướng mắc vào những cuộc tranh cãi về nguồn nước với hầu như tất cả các nước có chung dòng sông với họ. Những cuộc tranh cãi này chắc chắn sẽ ngày càng xấu thêm vì Trung Quốc đang tập trung xây dựng những siêu đập, với biểu tượng là một con đập nữa trên sông Mekong – đập Xiaowan với công suất 4.200 megawatt, cao hơn cả tháp Eiffel ở Paris và đang lập kế hoạch xây con đập với công suất lên đến 38.000 megawatt ở Metog, trên sông Brahmaputra, gần biên giới đang tranh chấp với Ấn Độ. Đập Metog sẽ lớn gấp hai lần đập Tam Hiệp, với công suất 18.300 megawatt, hiện là đập lớn nhất thế giới. 1,7 triệu người Trung Quốc đã phải rời bỏ nơi chôn nhau cắt rốn để lấy đất cho việc xây dựng con đập này.
In addition, China has identified another mega-dam site on the Brahmaputra at Daduqia, which, like Metog, is to harness the force of a nearly 3,000-meter drop in the river’s height as it takes a sharp southerly turn from the Himalayan range into India, forming the world’s longest and steepest canyon. The Brahmaputra Canyon – twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in the United States – holds Asia’s greatest untapped water reserves.	Ngoài ra, Trung Quốc đã xác định vị trí một siêu đập ở Daduqia trên sông Brahmaputra, tương tự như đập ở Metog, với độ cao thác nước là 3.000 mét tại chỗ con sông này chảy từ dãy Himalaya vào Ấn Độ. Đây sẽ là con đập dài nhất và nằm ở hẻm núi dốc nhất thế giới. Dốc núi Brahmaputra – sâu gấp hai lần dốc núi Grand ở Mỹ – là bể chứa nước chưa khai thác lớn nhất ở châu Á.
The countries likely to bear the brunt of such massive diversion of waters are those located farthest downstream on rivers like the Brahmaputra and Mekong – Bangladesh, whose very future is threatened by climate and environmental change, and Vietnam, a rice bowl of Asia. China’s water appropriations from the Illy River threaten to turn Kazakhstan’s Lake Balkhash into another Aral Sea, which has shrunk to less than half its original size.	Những nước phải chịu tác động mạnh nhất của sự đổi hướng dòng chảy lại là những nước nằm ở hạ lưu những con sông như Brahmaputra và Mekong – đấy là Bangladesh, tương lai của nước này đang bị đe dọa bởi sự thay đổi thời tiết và môi trường, và Việt Nam, vựa lúa của châu Á. Việc Trung Quốc chiếm đoạt nguồn nước sông Illy có thể biến hồ Balkhash của Kazakhstan thành biển Aral thứ hai. Biển này đã co lại chỉ còn chưa được một nửa kích thước ban đầu.
In addition, China has planned the “Great Western Route,” the proposed third leg of the Great South-North Water Diversion Project – the most ambitious inter-river and inter-basin transfer program ever conceived – whose first two legs, involving internal rivers in China’s ethnic Han heartland, are scheduled to be completed within three years. The Great Western Route, centered on the Tibetan Plateau, is designed to divert waters, including from international rivers, to the Yellow River, the main river of water-stressed northern China, which also originates in Tibet.	Ngoài ra, Trung Quốc còn lập kế hoạch xây dựng “Đường dẫn nước vĩ đại phía Tây”, tức là chân thứ ba của “Dự án Phân dòng Bắc-Nam Vĩ đại” – một chương trình chuyển nước giữa các dòng sông và các hồ chứa chưa từng có từ trước tới nay – trong đó hai chân đầu là để nối các dòng sông trong khu vực Hoa hạ, theo kế hoạch sẽ hoàn thành trong vòng ba năm. Đường dẫn nước vĩ đại phía Tây, tập trung vào cao nguyên Tây Tạng, nhằm làm chệch hướng dòng chảy, kể cả dòng chảy của những con sông đi qua các nước khác, sang sông Hoàng Hà, dòng sông chính cung cấp nước cho miền Bắc Trung Quốc. Con sông này cũng xuất phát từ Tây Tạng.
With its industry now dominating the global hydropower-equipment market, China has also emerged as the largest dam builder overseas. From Pakistani-held Kashmir to Burma’s troubled Kachin and Shan states, China has widened its dam building to disputed or insurgency-torn areas, despite local backlashes.	Với nền công nghiệp đang giữ thế thượng phong trong thị trường thiết bị thủy điện; trong lĩnh vực xây dựng đập nước ở hải ngoại, Trung Quốc cũng là nhà thầu xây dựng lớn nhất thế giới. Từ khu vực Kashmir do Pakistan nắm giữ cho đến lãnh thổ đầy xáo trộn của người Kachin và người Shan ở Myanmar, Trung Quốc đang mở rộng dần việc xây dựng đập nước đến những vùng lãnh thổ đang tranh chấp và những khu vực bạo loạn, mặc cho sự phản đối của dân chúng địa phương.
For example, units of the People’s Liberation Army are engaged in dam and other strategic projects in the restive, Shia-majority region of Gilgit-Baltistan in Pakistan-held Kashmir. And China’s dam building inside Burma to generate power for export to Chinese provinces has contributed to renewed bloody fighting recently, ending a 17-year ceasefire between the Kachin Independence Army and the government.	Thí dụ các đơn vị Quân giải phóng nhân dân Trung Quốc đang tham gia vào việc xây đập nước và những dự án chiến lược khác trong khu vực bất ổn Gilgit-Baltistan có đa số người Shia sinh sống trong vùng Kashmir do Pakistan kiểm soát. Và con đập do Trung Quốc xây dựng ở Myanmar tạo ra nguồn năng lượng để xuất khẩu vào các tỉnh của Trung Quốc đã góp phần gây ra cuộc chiến đẫm máu trong thời gian gần đây, chấm dứt giai đoạn ngừng bắn giữa Quân đội độc lập Kashin và Chính phủ Myanmar kéo dài đã 17 năm.
As with its territorial and maritime disputes with India, Vietnam, Japan, and others, China is seeking to disrupt the status quo on international-river flows. Persuading it to halt further unilateral appropriation of shared waters has thus become pivotal to Asian peace and stability. Otherwise, China is likely to emerge as the master of Asia’s water taps, thereby acquiring tremendous leverage over its neighbors’ behavior.	Trung Quốc đang tìm cách phá vỡ hiện trạng trên những dòng sông chảy qua nhiều nước bằng những cuộc tranh chấp về lãnh thổ và hàng hải với Ấn Độ, Việt Nam, Nhật Bản, và những quốc gia khác. Như vậy là, thuyết phục họ chấm dứt sự chiếm đoạt đơn phương nguồn nước mà các nước cùng chỉa sẻ đã trở thành vấn đề mấu chốt cho hòa bình và ổn định ở châu Á. Nếu không, Trung Hoa có thể sẽ nổi lên như là người kiểm soát nguồn nước của châu Á và bằng cách đó, tạo ra ảnh hưởng rất lớn đối với các nước láng giềng.
Brahma Chellaney, Professor of Strategic Studies at the Center for Policy Research, is the author of Water: Asia’s New Battleground.	Brahma Chellaney, là Giáo sư nghiên cứu chiến lược tại Trung tâm nghiên cứu chính sách, tác giả cuốn: Nước – Chiến trường mới của châu Á.
	Translated by Phạm Nguyên Trường
http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/chellaney20/English