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Yangtze river or more commonly known as Chang Jiang (literally means Long River) among the Chinese community is the longest river in Asia and ranked as the third longest river in the world after Nile and Amazon. Of about 6300 km long, it begins from the mountainous source in Qinghai Province flowing eastwards into East China Sea at Shanghai. As this river divides China into two hemispheres, it is the cradle of Chinese civilization and significantly contributes to cultural origin, transportation system and agriculture. Millions of folks live along Yangtze river benefit from its faithful flow. With several established irrigation systems along this river, crops can be harvested throughout the year. Yet, there are also millions of homes destroyed by the rise of water level during the rainy season in July and August. During the severe times, this disaster had killed several thousands people.

Despite the above facts, Yangtze still welcomes folks from all walks of lives especially in spring and autumn. It offers the magnificent journey to discover the life, heritage and natural beauty of its own. Seeing is believing! Cruising along Yangtze is the best approach to uncover the mysteries and folklore along the river banks of world’s greatest passages via the major cities of Wuhan, Yichang, Badong, Wanxian and Chongqing.

Wuhan
Wuhan serves as capital to Hubei Province. It is also one of the popular city by the middle of Yangtze. Historically, it is known as thoroughfare of nine provinces. It is the main hub for all the transportation in inner southern China. The civilization of this city dated back 3,000 years ago whereby the battle of Red Cliff in Romance of Three Kingdom took place at the nearby vicinity. Chang Jiang Bridge which was completed in 1957 is also the pride of the locals as it is the first bridge built over Yangtze river. This double-deck bridge accommodates 2 railway track at the bottom deck and 4 lane roadways on the top deck. This bridge connects the Turtle Hill to Snake Hill, where the icon of Wuhan – Yellow Crane Tower (Huang He Lo) is situated. Other famous attractions in Wuhan include East Lake, Wuhan Museum, GuiYuan Si and Memorial Temple of Lord Yu – located on Turtle Hill where the view of Chang Jiang First Bridge is best.

Yichang – Gezhou Dam
Since ancient times, Yichang was renowned as ‘Gateaway to the Three Gorges’ and ‘Throat of between Sichuan and Hubei’. Today, its advantageous geographic location serves as major distributing centre, important trading port and transportation hub which also control the waterway access to Chongqing in the southwest.

Thanks to Gezhou Dam which was fully completed in 1988 that has helped Yichang to grow exponentially. *The Dam is 2606.5 meters high, with a total storage capacity of 1.58 billion m3 and a maximum flood discharging capability of 110,000 m3/s. The two hydro-electric plants have 21 generating units with a total installed capacity of 2.715 million kw and annual output of 15.7 billion kwh, which is transmitted as far as to Shanghai, Henan, Hunan and Wuhan (*source: http://www.yc.chinanews.com.cn/eng/project/gezhouba1.htm)
Upon completion of Gezhou Dam, all the vessels have to queue to enter the ship-lock in order to cruise upstream. The process of passing the dam is an exciting experience. It will take about 50 minutes to go through it. Since the water level on the upstream side of the dam is 30m higher than that on the downstream, the vessel has to sail into a chamber resembling a huge water tub, with the front chamber door close tightly. Each chamber may take about 4 to 5 vessels below 3000 tonnes. After the behind door of the chamber is closed, the water is injected gradually into this huge tub to rise up the vessel. When the water level is aligned with the higher side of the dam, the front door opens and allows the vessels to continue the journey upstream.

Xiling Gorge (Xiling Xia)
This gorge stretched about 80 km upstream slightly after Yichang, is the longest gorge of the Three Gorges of Yangtze. Previously sailors have been warned that this was the most dangerous spot due to swift current and dangerous shoals but this has been eliminated by the rising of water level. The formation of rocks along this gorge is unique and strange with some cliff resembling Monkey Sun, Pig Bajie, Priest Xuan Zhuan, and Monk Sha; the four characters in the Chinese classic ‘Pilgrimage to the West’. This is the Shadow-Play Gorge. Other scenic spots include Military Book and Precious Sword. Legend says that Zhuge Liang kept his military book and sword here. Along the cruise, there are also plenty of charcoal warehouses whereby the cargo ships waiting to be loaded via a long pipe along the river bank.

SaudouPing - Three Gorges Dam
Disembark at Huangling Temple followed by coach will take us to tour the site of Three Gorges Dam, the largest hydroelectric project in the world. Expected to fully operational in 2011, this project is estimated to generate an annual output of nearly 84.7 billion kWh power and capacity to control flood volume of 22.15 billion m3). Although this water conservation project will benefit the flood control, at the same time, it has risen the river level by *156m in Oct 2006 (source:http://www.newsgd.com/news/china1/200609210072.htm) stretching upstream to Chongqing that will eventually submerge over hundreds cities/towns, more than a thousand villages and approximately 30,000 hectares of cultivated land. On the other hand, this has improved the navigation along the Yangtze, making it much safer to travel nowadays.

Three Gorges Project has a permanent double-way five-stage-ship lock with total length of 6442 m which will take approximately 3 hours to complete the whole process. Of the total water head 113 m, it is divided into five steps of 22.6 m each. The design cargo fleet passage is about 10,000 tonnes each time with an average annual one-way transportation capacity of 50 million tonnes; making it the world’s largest two-way ship-lock for its steps, total water head and fleet passage. Viewing from the top overlooking the dam site of intense water splash reminds us of the amazing Mother Nature!

Badong - Shennong Stream and Bamboo Gorge
Badong is a port city that linked Hubei and Sichuan. Several kilometers away lay a nature reserve with unspoiled scenery - Shennong Stream, a tributary to Yangtze. Its virgin forests and green mountains are exceptionally rich in plant life and home to the endangered Golden Monkey. The mountains reach up over 3,000 m and only environmental friendly boats are allowed to navigate along Shennong Stream. Hanging coffins, an extraordinary burial system cultivated among Tujia (a primary ethic live along Yangtze) used to be an endemic in this area. The coffin was made of huge tree trunk and usually positioned on wooden planked nailed to the cliff of the mountains along this stream. The belief of buried high, as close as possible to the sky will allow the soul to be closer to God. The height of the coffin’s location is also determined by the ranked of the individual in the village. Excursion with a pea-shaped wooden boat that can accommodate 10-12 persons along a calm and clear water stream will take you to experience a traditional activity of the natives whereby a team of boat trackers has to push and tow the boat over the shallow rapids in Bamboo Gorge. The smell of the air is pure and fresh, truly an unforgettable experience!

Wu Gorge (Wu Xia)
If traveling upstream, the Wu Gorge begins at Guandukou in Badong County and ends at the mouth of the Daling River in Wushan County with a total length of 44 km. Poets describe it as a winding hallway of paintings. This gorge has twelve splendid peaks with most peaks on Wushan Mountain Range. Among the most prominent peak is the Goddess Peak, the graceful shape of which resembles a maiden looking down at the boats in the river. She is believed to be the embodiment of Yao Ji, the 23rd daughter of the Queen Mother of the West. A famous version of myths says Yao Ji and her 11 sisters came down during one of the mid autumn as guardian angels to tame the dangerous rapid and flood. They forgot to return to heaven and finally turn into the 12 peaks.

Another significant spot is Kongming Tablet which is located on the foot of Immortals Peak which is a concave tablet engraved with six characters read as “Mountains upon mountains in the Wu Gorge”. It was believed to have written by Zhu Geliang, who was also known as Kongming.

Qutang Gorge (Qutang Xia)
Qutang Gorge of 8 km long is the shortest and narrowest yet the most spectacular gorge among the Three Gorges. The widest spot of this gorge is about 150 m and the narrowest width is only several dozen meters away. It lies from Daxi Stream in the east to White Emperor City in the west. Yangtze carves the gorge between the sheer precipices of overhanging mountains on either side. The beauty of this gorge was described by poet Bai Juyi in writing, "The shore looks like two screens. The sky has been cut out." Sailing through this gorge during sunset is simply inspiring!

The narrow passage of Qutang Gorge is full of mysteries coupled with wealthy ancient sites include White Salt Mountain, Mengliang Staircase, Kui Gate, Bellows Gorge and Rhinoceros Watching the Moon really capturing the heart of the voyagers.

Wanxian
As the name describes, Wanxian is a ‘County of 10, 000 things’ that has a 1,500 years old history. Being in the top ten largest ports along Yangtze, it is a distribution centre for goods from eastern Sichuan and western Hubei. It produces abundant silk products, oranges and tangerines. The stop at Wanxian will lead to experience the local markets, museum and relocation village. Most of these relocation villages are blocks of flat with 2 or 3 rooms. The resettlement program is initiated to help mostly the farmers from the submerged land to find a new home and a new job. Living in limited land area, the former farmers usually turn to be small traders in markets. Some of them even picked up new skills to earn a living as cobbler or tailor by the road side.

Chongqing
Chongqing, known as mountain city is one of the municipal ruled under federal government apart from Beijng, Shanghai and Tianjin. With population over 30 million people and annual average temperature of 18 degree Celcius, this is the city with the least number of bicycles in the region. The mountainous roads in the city make the local folks to prefer walking than cycling.

Places of interests not to miss in Chongqing are ChaoTienMen, ErLing Mountain, People’s Square, Three Gorges Museum and shopping at JiaFangbei vicinity. In local bazaars and ladies market; clothing, handbags and shoes are reasonably fashionable and as up-to-date as the collection available in metropolitans like Shanghai and Beijing. Bargain well in order to get the best buy.

A trip to Baodingshan to view Dazu Rock Carving is also rewarding. The stone figures carved as early as during Tang dynasty (618-907AD) is listed as the Unesco’s world heritage site. This place made up of 13 groups of stone carving figures, totaling nearly 10 thousand cliff-side figures. They are worth appreciating! Magnificent rock figures in different shapes and painted compose a story on each along the stone wall. Revolving the lessons from Buddha, The Buddhist Wheel of Life is among the outstanding carved on outer cave wall which displayed the six reincarnations of all living creatures. The scene vividly shows Buddhist karma and retribution. Towards the end, there is a statue of reclining Buddha, demonstrating the moments before Buddha passed away accompanied by Three Saints from the West Pure Land.

With the geographical advantage, as a mountain city surrounded by rivers, the night view of Chongqing is splendid. Standing at NanBing Road opposite of ChaoTienMen will provide the best location to witness the panoramic night view. Trip to Chongqing is not complete without it!

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