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48-601: Kuizhou (Kui Prefecture) was located in the Three Gorges area of the Yangzi River , a main transportation east–west corridor through China, which made use of the Yangzi River for transportation by water. Kui Prefecture (Kuizhou) was an area typical of many in the southern part of the Tang Empire which experienced an increase in population and development as a result of the disasters beginning with and following

96-425: A distinct political entity, and available quantitative and other data serve to illustrate the changes in population of Kuizhou and its relative status in terms of education and recruitment of officials into the national government, at several points of time during this period: data include census figures for population, records from the imperial civil service examinations , and other writings. The population figures for

144-630: A large iron chain across the Yangtze, in order to be able to restrict travel. In 914, Gao Jixing launched a fleet and headed west up the Yangtze, attempting to capture four prefectures which had become Former Shu territory — Kuizhou, Wanzhou ( 萬州 ), Zhongzhou ( 忠州 ), and Fu zhou( 涪州 ), all in modern Chongqing ). However, when he attacked Kui first, he was defeated by the Former Shu prefect of Kui, Wang Chengxian ( 王成先 ), and withdrew with heavy losses. Gao Conghui , whose career apexed as ruler of

192-468: Is limestone , which is relatively hard and resists erosion. However, water can flow along deep vertical fractures, eroding underneath. As the limestone bed is gradually undercut, parts of it fall into the river along vertical fractures, forming precipitous cliffs. When the river flows through areas of softer sandstone and shale , which have less resistance to erosion, the erosive effect is increased, carving wide valleys. There are different theories on how

240-544: Is wider and the mountains appear lower. However, the mountains still tower above the river, and the gorges continue to offer views of the surrounding cliffs. The riverboat companies operating on the Three Gorges are experiencing an increase in demand for river cruises. The increased width and depth of the river permits larger ships through the gorges, and there has been a significant increase in river traffic of all kinds, including bulk cargo and container barges. After

288-693: The An Lushan Rebellion (also known as the Anshi disturbances) . Later, toward the end of the Tang dynasty this area which was formerly a refuge became itself the center of military activity leading to the breakup of the Tang imperial dynasty and the development of the independent states of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period . The Kuizhou area was held by the Han dynasty . During this time, it

336-551: The Eastern Turkic Khaganate . The Tang forces led by Li Jing were unsuccessful in their attempted invasion, being both beset by "bandits" and being turned back at the heavily defended border of the neighboring empire. And in spring 620, Ran Zhaoze ( 冉肇則 ) the leader of the Kaishan Tribe ( 開山蠻 ), rebelled against Tang rule and attacked Kui Prefecture. When the imperial relative Li Xiaogong fought Ran, he

384-531: The Former Shu (Chinese: 前蜀 ; pinyin: Qiánshǔ ) or occasionally Wang Shu (王蜀), was a dynastic state of China and one of the Ten Kingdoms during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period . It existed from 907 to 925 CE. The country's name changed from "Shu" to "Han" (Chinese: 漢 ; pinyin: Hàn ) in 917–918, which is not to be confused with another contemporaneous kingdom during

432-608: The Northern Wei ( 北魏 ) dynasty, Li Daoyuan ( 酈道元 ) described them in his work, Commentary on the Water Classic ( 水經注 ). There are seamless mountains on both sides of the Three Gorges stretching more than 200 miles. The overlapping rocks make up layers of barriers that shield against sky and sunshine so that the sun can only be seen at noon and the moon will merely show at midnight. In summers, water rises to lofty mountains, making all boats floating along or against

480-624: The Three Gorges Dam and changed the culture and environment of the region. Although it is primarily famous for its scenery, the Three Gorges region is historically and culturally important in China. Many settlements and archaeological sites were submerged by the upstream reservoir of the Three Gorges Dam . Due to the lithological conditions of its different regions, the valleys of the Three Gorges are narrow in some areas and broad in others. Most narrow valleys occur in regions where there

528-547: The Yuan dynasty of China. During the course of the destruction of the Song and subsequent reorganization vast changes in the political structure included the end of the role of Kuizhou as a distinct and important formal part of the organized Chinese political structure. However Guizhou was formally made a province only in 1413, and Marco Polo, in 1298, does mention Kuizhou as an existing province. Kuizhou, also known as Kui Prefecture,

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576-593: The Fengjie and Wu Mountains of Chongqing, as well as Badong, Zigui, and Yichang of Hubei Province. After arriving at Yibin ( 宜宾 ), in Sichuan Province ( 四川 ), the Yangtze River ( 长江 ) flows from Jiangjin ( 江津 ), of Chongqing Municipality ( 重庆 ), to Yichang ( 宜昌 ), of Hubei Province ( 湖北 ); and this section of the river is called Chuanjiang ( 川江 ), or "the river of Sichuan". In

624-596: The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms states successively held Kuizhou as a key territorial possession, including Former Shu, Later Tang, Jingnan (also known as Nanping), and Later Shu. During the Later Tang, Kuizhou was part of Meng Zhixiang's political breakaway, which eventually resulted in the formation of the Later Shu state. During this time Kuizhou was usually subordinate to a larger political division. In

672-539: The Gorges' swift currents, saying they are horrific, and no one praised the local landscape [as] beautiful. It's [not] till I came to the site that I felt quite gleeful and started to understand seeing is believing. The overlapping cliffs, the elegant peaks and the grotesque structures, they all constitute the scenery far from expression. The lush, solemn woods stood erected in the cloudy air. I can raise up my head to appreciate what's above, and look down to see reflections, and

720-526: The NPC voted on a resolution for the dam, and it was passed with an unusually low approval rate for the NPC with only 1767 of the 2633 members ( 67.11%) voting to support the dam. The Three Gorges Dam was constructed at Sandouping ( 三斗坪 ), Yichang ( 宜昌 ) in Hubei Province ( 湖北 ), in the middle of Xiling Gorge . On May 20, 2006, the reservoir dam was completed, and the water level quickly reached

768-505: The Ten Kingdoms state of Jingnan , conquered Kuizhou, in about 926. Meng Zhixiang (874–934) was a Later Tang general who was later considered to be the founder the state of Later Shu (935–965). His son Meng Renyi would be created Prince of Kui, in 950, shortly before the establishment of the Song dynasty in 960, which would eventually result in the reunification of China as one state. The Song dynasty (960 to 1279) retained Kui as

816-593: The Three Gorges were formed, but geographers and geologists have generally reached a consensus, believing mountain folding in the east of Sichuan Province and the west of Hubei Province, including the Wu Mountains ( 巫山 ), were the outcome of the Yanshanian movement ( 燕山運動 ) around 70 million years ago. The gorges run from southwest to northeast, then turn, and from west to east, with terrain lowering gradually from south to north. The western and eastern parts of

864-678: The Three Gorges. Afterwards, he wrote an enthusiastic report on the prospects of a dam. Construction was started on the first of the dams at Upper Tsing Yuan Tung, but was halted on August 15, 1947, because of the Chinese Civil War . In February 1958, as the expanded meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee was held at Nanning ( 南宁 ), the Three Gorges Project ( 三峡工程 )

912-659: The Three Gorges. The cliffs on both sides appear to some as having been cut by knives or axes. Among the Wu Mountains that are located at the northern and southern beaches of the Wu Gorge, one of the twelve peaks is known as Fairy Peak. According to folk tradition, it symbolizes a fairy who assisted Yu the Great in controlling the waters and guiding boatmen. The Xiling Gorge comprises a series of famous gorges, including Military Book and Sword Gorge, Yellow Cow Gorge, and Lantern's Shadow Gorge. In 1919, after Sun Yat-sen had put forward

960-631: The Yangtze River, which is where this area gets its name. The Three Gorges span from the western, upriver, city of Fengjie , in Chongqing Municipality , to the east, downstream, city of Yichang , in Hubei province . The Three Gorges Reservoir Region is approximately 200 km (120 mi) in length, while the Three Gorges themselves occupy about 120 km (75 mi) within this region: this has attracted global attention to

1008-401: The area, between the southern mountains and Bashan Mountain ( 巴山 ), in the north, are comparatively lower; and in the past, the river flowed to the east through the region. As the crust of the locality continued to rise, the river's erosion intensified, and the Three Gorges were carved. The natural beauty of the Three Gorges along the Yangtze River has been appreciated for hundreds of years. In

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1056-663: The concept in the Plan for Industrial Development of his Founding Strategy  [ zh ] ( 建国方略 ), experts investigated damming the Three Gorges, but it was not until 1994 that the Three Gorges project officially started. In 1944, the Nationalist government recruited John L. Savage , the Chief Engineer of the United States Bureau of Reclamation, who came to China and made a 10-day investigation of

1104-553: The construction of the Three Gorges Dam was approved, archaeologists were allowed time and resources to carry out rescue work. However, after the dam was built and used to store water, a large number of cultural relics, including hanging coffins and stone inscriptions that cannot be protected, were covered by the reservoir. 31°01′04″N 110°13′43″E  /  31.01778°N 110.22861°E  / 31.01778; 110.22861 Former Shu Great Shu ( Chinese : 大蜀 ; pinyin : Dàshǔ ), known in historiography as

1152-557: The end of his life (766-early 768). One famous poem which Du Fu wrote in Kuizhou was the influential poem "Autumn Day in Kui Prefecture". Du Fu was one of the refugees from the north who escaped from the turmoil of the Anshi disturbances, and ended up in Kui Prefecture for a time (Murck, 23-24; and, Hinton, 191). At the time, educated Han Chinese persons were a distinct minority in the area of Kuizhou, and what local Chinese language

1200-501: The end of the Tang dynasty and the establishment of the Song dynasty : during this period, the political, social, and population center of China moved increasingly toward the south, and during this process Kuizhou came to be more and more central in these regards. Pivotally positioned along and between the upper and lower Yangzi River areas and athwart this major travelway, Kuizhou several of

1248-602: The hinterland of the People's Republic of China . With a subtropical monsoon climate, they are known for their scenery. The Three Gorges—comprising the Qutang , followed by the Wu , and finally the Xiling gorges—span 193 miles (311 km), beginning at Baidi City of Chongqing , in the west and ending at Nanjing Pass, at Yichang City , Hubei Province , in the east, between which are

1296-401: The imperial bureaucracy. Thus, the available figures for Kuizhou versus other regions of the Song empire illustrate to some degree the relative regional quality of education and regional representation in Song governance for Kuizhou. Figures are available for certain years for the number of graduates awarded the jinshi degree (somewhat equivalent to a modern Doctor of Literature). In some cases,

1344-478: The initial level of 110 meters (360 ft) above the downstream river. The project was completed by the end of 2008, with a ship lift completed in 2015. Both the dam and the Three Gorges Reservoir has had a massive impact on the region's ecology and people, involving the mass relocation of towns and villages. The higher water level has changed the scenery of the Three Gorges so that the river

1392-409: The late 9th and early 10th centuries, Meng Zhixiang and Wang Jian were involved in operations which were in part centered in Kuizhou, which became the capital of Ningjiang Circuit ( 寧江 ). Wang Jian (847–918) began his career serving in the Tang army, but with the dissolution of the Tang empire, became the founding emperor of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms state of Former Shu (907–925), which

1440-466: The more acquainted I get with this place, the better I feel. I spent two nights there, forgetting to return. I had never seen such a scene, nor had I any similar experience. So I am cheerful to see such a wonder, I feel mountains and waters all had spirits, and I am thrilled to encounter this bosom friend after seeking so long. In his poem Setting out from Baidicheng , Li Bai ( 李白 ) depicts this place, saying, While monkeys keep howling at both sides of

1488-464: The morning, forests and streams are chilly and solemn, and one can often hear monkeys howling from peaks. Their cries sound sad and strange and last in the valleys for quite a while, because of that, local fishers think the Wu Gorge is the longest of the Three Gorges in the east of Sichuan province. The Three Gorges have renowned scenic spots, such as the Kuimen ( 夔門 ), located at the western entrance to

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1536-509: The north of China), after its conquest of Former Shu, in a southern extension of power. Kui Prefecture, however, would not prove easy to hold. In 904, the warlord Zhao Kuangning sent an armed group up the Yangtze River to attack Kui Prefecture, still, held by Wang Jian under the title of Military Governor of Xichuan Circuit (西川, headquartered in modern Chengdu , Sichuan ). Zhao's attack was repelled by Wang's adoptive son Wang Zongruan ( 王宗阮 ). Wang's general Zhang Wu ( 張武 ) subsequently built

1584-662: The number of candidates is also known for certain years. E. A. Kracke, Jr., analyzing the data concludes that regions of the Yangzi delta and the Sichuan basin are far more proportionally represented than are regions such as Kuizhou (Kracke, 255). Sima Guang and Ouyang Xiu show supporting conclusions (Kracke, 254). Eventually, the Song dynasty was completely defeated by the Mongol Empire , which then itself came to be divided into several regional parts, one of which organized as

1632-766: The past, it was the only waterway that connected Sichuan and Guizhou to China's eastern area. (The Wu River ( 乌江 ) flows past Guizhou and empties into the Yangtze River at Fuling ( 涪陵 ), of Chongqing Municipality). Downstream, the Chuanjiang passes the Wu Mountains—the second ladder of the Chinese mainland—which form the Qutang Gorge ( 瞿塘峡 ), the Wu Gorge ( 巫峡 ), and the Xiling Gorge ( 西陵峡 ) along

1680-504: The river get blocked. Suppose an empire has an urgent decree to issue from Baidi, it will reach Jiangling at sunset of the day. The distance between them is about 373 miles, and neither a galloping horse nor a flight can run faster than a boat. Yuan Shansong ( 袁山松 ) of the Eastern Jin dynasty wrote a Record of Yichuan's Landscape , which depicts the Three Gorges' grandeur. He wrote, People were always warned literally or orally of

1728-409: The river, the boat has swiftly passed thousands of mountains. Between winter and spring, the shadows of rocks and woods are reflected in the green pool accompanied by white, swift currents. Cascades plunge and flow across cypresses increasing at extremely high peaks. Clean water, flourishing trees, lofty mountains and luxuriant grasses compose the landscape. When the sun starts to rise or frost falls in

1776-416: The time bear some interpretation because they are recorded by number of households, and the average number of persons per household and number of persons without a household is not certainly known, and was also subject to change. Other factors are also operative in terms of interpreting the data, similar to the case of other census figures. Also, some imprecision due to rounding of figures may be noted. Around

1824-490: The time of Tang and Sung, the connotations of this Xiaoxiang (or sao ) style verse included the implications of exile from court, displacement into the wilderness, and the disappointment of talented and loyal officials who were condemned to exile by the slander of inferiors. Various poets (including some of the most famous and renowned) wrote poems in Kui, in particular Du Fu and Li Bai. Li Bai (also known by various name variants)

1872-407: The year 1100, the population of Kuizhou is enumerated at 250,000 households; in 1162, 387,000 households are recorded; in 1223, 208,000 households are reported (according to Kracke, 255 and 257). A major function of the Song educational system and its accompanying formal award of graduate degrees to successful candidates was to recruit personnel to fill important and powerful governmental positions in

1920-535: Was a famous Tang poet who was famous for his Kuizhou poetry. After being pardoned and recalled from exile for his role in the Anshi affair, in 756, returning down the Yangzi River, Li stopped at Baidicheng , in Kuizhou, which was the occasion of his writing his famous poem " Departing from Baidi in the Morning ". The famous Tang poet Du Fu (712-770) wrote hundreds of poems in Kuizhou, where he resided towards

1968-650: Was an important location in regard to the Classical Chinese poetry genre known as Xiaoxiang poetry , a name which is associated with the Xiaoxiang region (a semi-geographic, semi-symbolic locality). During the Tang and Song dynasties, the Xiaoxiang was associated with a long poetic tradition, going back to Qu Yuan 's Li Sao , and subsequent development through the Han dynasty into the Chuci anthology: by

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2016-401: Was demoted and exiled to Kui Prefecture, as prefect, by Emperor Tang Dezong . Zhu Pu, who twice served as imperial chancellor for Emperor Tang Zhaozong (867 – 904, and the second-to-last Tang dynasty emperor), was demoted and exiled sent into exile to serve as military advisor in Kui Prefecture, in 897. The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms was an era of disunity in the time stretch between

2064-467: Was discussed for the first time, and fierce disputes broke out. In the end, this project was delayed. Over the following three decades, people continued to discuss it. In the early 1980s, people mentioned it once again, but after repeated discussions and investigations, it was again postponed. On March 6, 1992, a feasibility report was presented at the 5th Session of the 7th National People's Congress (NPC) for discussion and resolution. On April 3 of that year,

2112-525: Was initially unsuccessful, but Li Jing reinforced him with 800 men and defeated and killed Ran, reconsolidating Kui Prefecture into the area of Tang imperial control. Later, Di Zhixun, father of Di Renjie , born 630, served as prefect of Kui Prefecture. Di Renjie was one of the officials from parts of China which were not the traditional areas for recruitment of top leadership positions which Wu Zetian promoted, during her interregnum. He served her twice as chancellor. In about 787, imperial chancellor Qi Ying

2160-508: Was known as Baidi, or White Emperor, in English. A poetic tradition developed in Tang and later times of referencing Kuizhou by mentioning Baidi (Murck, 271). However, the area was only on the fringe of the Han empire, and after the fall of the Han dynasty long remained outside of the main area of Chinese culture. Historical records are incomplete. At the founding of the Tang empire, Kui Prefecture

2208-605: Was known as Xin Prefecture (信州, or Xinzhou). Li Xiaogong (formerly the Duke of Zhao Commandery and Emperor Gaozu's distant nephew) was the Tang general assigned there as commandant, after having helped establishing the Tang dynasty in 618. Other famous people connected with political and military events in the history of Kui Prefecture include Tang General Li Jing , who was sent there by Emperor Tang Gaozu , in 619, in order to pursue military operations versus Xiao Xian of Liang and

2256-415: Was one of the Ten Kingdoms. Wang conquered in 903, four years before the demise of Tang, in 907. Kuizhou was part of Former Shu, founded by Wang Jian as part of the aftermath of the dissolution of the Tang dynasty: Wang was in control of Kuizhou in 907, when the Tang dynasty formally is considered to have ended. Kuizhou was part of Later Tang (one of the Five Dynasties which succeeded each other in control to

2304-406: Was spoken there among the majority languages had strong dialectical features, including distinct vocabulary differences, as Du Fu points out through his poetry. Three Gorges The Three Gorges ( simplified Chinese : 三峡 ; traditional Chinese : 三峽 ; pinyin : Sānxiá ) are three adjacent and sequential gorges along the middle reaches of the Yangtze River path, in

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