That overtakes the second-place Three Gorges Dam, which cost a mere 203.9 billion yuan.

FORBES: Chinese Ministry Saved from Default

Promoting the power-generation aspect of the Three Gorges project may have seemed a good way to counter the criticisms made by the dam's opponents, and the suspicions of potential investors.

ECONOMIST: China

The scale of the dam it will be the world's third-largest hydroelectric station after China's Three Gorges and Brazil's own Itaipu is epic.

ECONOMIST: Energy in Brazil

Tanaka suggested that for starters the world needs each year to build 90 utility-scale concentrated solar plants, 17, 000 windmills, two Three Gorges Dams, and 18 nuclear plants.

FORBES: IEA Chief Predicts End Of Internal Combustion Engine By 2050

The top two seeds remain on track for a final showdown after both Azarenka and three-time grand slam champion Maria Sharapova won, against Germany's Julia Gorges and Italian Roberta Vinci respectively.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

First, China is not a monolith, and decision-making there can also be painfully slow (for example, the Three Gorges project was first mooted in the 1920s).

ECONOMIST: Democracy and growth are not in competition