Sailing Calendar in 2008
Yangtze Attractions
Contact us
- MSN: HFcits@hotmail.com
- Email:YangtzeHolidays@Gmail.com
- Tel: 0086-23-63788970
The Yangtze Three Gorges
- The Yangtze River (长江) (6,300-km-long) is not only the longest river in China but also one of the longest in the world. Its source is in the Qinghai highlands and it flows eastward through eight provinces and one centrally administered municipality. At the place where the river reaches the eastern Sichuan Basin, it makes its way deep into and through the Wushan Mountains. It becomes narrow and swift and difficult for boats to navigate. Rugged cliffs, steep crags and high peaks line the banks. This implausible landscape is called the 'Three Gorges of the Yangtze River (长江) '. They extend over 193 km from Fengjie in the west to Yichang in the east. A trip through the gorges is memorable experience for foreign as well as Chinese tourists.
- The Yangtze River (长江) used to be the main passage through the gorges was dangerous. Shallows, dangerous bends, rapids and cliffs demanded the utmost attention and a lot of experience from the boatmen. An additional difficulty was the great variability of the water level-up to 53 m difference in the gorges between the dry and rainy periods. Many people lost their lives or boats and cargo. Boats traveling upstream had to be towed, something that that occasionally is done even today. After 1949, the government made funds available to make navigation easier. Dangerous rocks were blasted away, passages dredged and leveled. Though the gorges are much less dangerous today but passage through them still requires a high level of concentration from the ship and boat navigators.
- The Yangtze River: Qutang Gorge
- Qutang Gorge begins at Baidi City（白帝城）. Steep walls of rock rist more than 100 m high on either side, looking as if a knife had cut them. This is the narrowest part of the river. Qutang gorge is only 8 km long and thus the shortest one, but in spite of spit of that it is the most remarkable. A mighty rock formerly rose at its western end against which countless boats were battered. It was blasted away during the work on the river so that it is no longer dangerous to pass this spot. If one looks closely, one can discover remains of coffins in some cracks high in the cliffs. A tribe laid their dead to rest here several hundred years ago. Archeologists were able to recover some of these wooden coffins, along with some swords and other relics. One can find frayed splinters of wood that must have come from the formerly numerous wooden coffins if one walks along the narrow path cut into the rocky cliffs of the north bank.
- The Yangtze River: Xiling Gorge
- Xiling Gorge(76 km long) is one of the three gorges in Yangtze River(长江), which is possible to make out the most varied objects in the rocks and cliffs For example, rocks arranged like stacks of books or swords. Xiling gorge was once greatly feared for its risky shallows. After the last bend of Xiling gorge has been passed, a wide plain stretches out. The river becomes almost 2 km wide. Two small islands not far from the gorge divide the river into two channels. In constructing the giant hydraulic project Gezhou Ba, this natural phenomenon was used.
- Wuxia Gorge
- Wuxia Gorge (40 km long), which follows Qutang gorge and begins near Wushan in Sichuan and leads to Baodong in Hubei. Twelve high peaks line both banks of the river. Shennv Feng（神女峰） is the most famous one, which is also named as Peak of the Holy Woman, named for its graceful shape.
Impression of The Yangtze Three Gorges
-
- A
- B
-
- C
- D