China's Three Gorges Dam, the world's biggest water control project, opened for its second tourist season on Wednesday, but with the number of daily visits limited to 1,000 for a maximum duration of 20 minutes.

The restrictions were implemented to guarantee the safety of tourists on top of the 185-meter dam, said a statement from the Yangtze River Three Gorges Project Tourism Development Company.

Canned drinks, video cameras or umbrellas have also been banned from the site and tourists will be subjected to security checks before crossing the five-meter-wide and 100-meter-long strip from the northern bank.

The dam near Yichang city, in western Hubei Province, originally opened to tourists last year, from July to September when the Yangtze, China's longest waterway, was in spate, making a spectacular scene from above.

But this year's tourist season started earlier than last year as workers race to complete the major part of the dam by May and tourism companies try to maximize the site's potential.

The dam was begun in 1993 and the site has hosted 5 million tours since 1997. Scheduled for completion and operation in 2009, the Three Gorges Project will comprise 26 turbo-generators, with a combined generating capacity of 18.2 million kilowatts.

Source: Xinhua