The Techi Dam is a concrete thin arch dam on the Dajia River in the mountains of central Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

, some 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) south of Heping

Heping, Taichung

Heping District is a mountainous district in eastern Taichung, Taiwan, and it is the largest part of the city by area...

 in Taichung County

Taichung County

Taichung County was a county in central Taiwan, the Republic of China, that surrounded but did not include Taichung City. The name Taichung means "central Taiwan"...

. At 180 metres (590.6 ft) high, it is one of the tallest dams in the country. It serves primarily for flood control and hydroelectric generation. Its power station contains three 78 MW generators for a total installed capacity of 234 MW.

Construction of the dam was started in 1969 by the Taiwan Power Company and was completed five years later in 1974. Originally named Tachien Dam after the gorge it lies within, the dam was renamed Techi (德基), meaning "foundation of virtue", by then-President Chiang Kai-Shek

Chiang Kai-shek

Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....

. The dam forms the Techi Reservoir, which reaches 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) upstream and covers 454 hectares (1,121.9 acre) with a storage capacity of more than 175000000 cubic metre.