The Last Days of Kaixian

On November 4, 2008, water rose over Kaixian, China, ending its history of nearly 2000 years. Located on the Yangtze River, 180 miles upstream from the Three Gorges Dam — the largest water control project ever built — Kaixian was the final town submerged by the dam’s reservoir. By that day in November, the reservoir had claimed more than 150 cities and towns and 1300 villages, displacing an estimated 1.3 million people.

And just like that it was gone. These images by newspaper photographer Zhang Xiao are hauntingly beautiful.
Read more and see the slideshow at Design Observer