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39-717: 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 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 ),

78-491: A Z-shape. These holes are known as the Meng Liang Stairway (孟良梯). Legend has it that the holes were built by a Song dynasty soldier named Meng Liang (孟良). Meng Liang served for a general named Yang Jiye who was buried at the top of the cliff. Meng Liang wanted to find the remains of General Yang and give him a proper burial back in his home town. During the night Meng Liang constructed the stairway. A monk at

117-467: A number of caves . Dripping water from natural springs within the caves have created many stalactites . One particular stalactite is approximately 10 metres (33 ft) high, and it is shaped like a Phoenix displaying its tail feathers. Moss and bamboo growing next to the formation look like feathers on a bird. Water still drips from the head of the stalactite bird, and hence the Chinese have dubbed it

156-603: A popular form in Chinese literature . He composed the Treatise on Administrative Geography ( t 郡 國 志 , s 郡 国 志 , Jùnguózhì ). Much of his work has survived to the present day. Later, Yuan was given appointment as the Grand Administrator of Wu Commandery . During the rebellion of Sun En in 399, he died defending Hudu in the western suburbs of modern Shanghai . This article about

195-426: 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 the river, the boat has swiftly passed thousands of mountains. Between winter and spring,

234-546: 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 is wider and the mountains appear lower. However, the mountains still tower above the river, and the gorges continue to offer views of

273-525: Is a major tourist attraction of a Yangtse cruise. The Chalk Wall (粉筆牆) is a white cliff face on the southern bank of the Yangtze River at the entrance to the Qutang Gorge (Kuimen Gate). The Chalk Wall has numerous characters carved into the rock, many of which were done by famous Chinese calligraphers . Nearly 1,000 characters in all are carved into the rock wall, with the oldest dating to

312-566: 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 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

351-402: Is only 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) long, but it is also the narrowest of the Three Gorges. The widest point measures only 150 metres (500 ft) wide. The mountains on either side reach as high as 1,200 metres (4,000 ft). This combination of narrow canyons among high mountains with several switchbacks in only 8 kilometres creates spectacular vistas, and the Qutang Gorge is often considered

390-464: The Song dynasty (960–1279). The wall has characters carved in many different styles of calligraphy and in various sizes. The largest characters are approximately 1.7 metres (6 ft) wide. On the south side of the river (Baiyan Mountain) a series of rectangular holes is carven into the cliff face. The holes are almost exactly 1 metre apart and 1 metre deep. The holes zig-zag up part of the cliff face in

429-539: 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 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,

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468-474: 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 the initial level of 110 meters (360 ft) above the downstream river. The project was completed by the end of 2008, with

507-529: The Bellows Gorge. 31°02′35″N 109°33′42″E  /  31.04306°N 109.56167°E  / 31.04306; 109.56167 Yuan Shansong Yuan Shansong , sometimes called Yuan Song , (344 - 401 CE) was an official of the Jin Dynasty . He was known as an accomplished poet, lyricist, and also as an historian. Yuan also produced one of the first landscape essays, later to become

546-858: 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 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

585-605: The Drinking Phoenix Spring (鳳凰泉). The formation is extremely difficult to see from the river, but there is a pathway that allows direct access to the caves. These narrow footpaths were built starting in the Western Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD) and continued to be maintained and improved until the middle of the 20th century. The original purpose was to provide a footpath for human haulers to pull boats upstream. Thus they were always alongside cliffs next to

624-587: The Qutang Gorge has been especially large. Many of the historically significant sites in the Qutang Gorge are located closer to the water level. Even prior to the dam construction the water level would come close to many sites during the rainy season. The water has now covered many of the important sites in the Gorge including the Ancient Pathway, Meng Liang's Staircase, the Chalk Wall, and the cave within

663-425: 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 the river get blocked. Suppose an empire has an urgent decree to issue from Baidi, it will reach Jiangling at sunset of

702-602: 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 the Three Gorges. Afterwards, he wrote an enthusiastic report on the prospects of a dam. Construction was started on the first of

741-674: 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 the concept in the Plan for Industrial Development of his Founding Strategy  [ zh ] ( 建国方略 ), experts investigated damming

780-492: The cliff face near Meng Liang's Staircase there is a rock shaped like an upside down person. This is the Hanging Monk Rock (倒吊和尚). According to legend, when Meng Liang discovered that the monk had feigned a rooster call, and frightened him off the mountain, he was so angry that he found the monk and hung him upside down from the cliff face. Along the cliff face near the Chalk Wall and Meng Liang's Stairway there are

819-456: The cliff's vertical faces such as mountains, are placed in caves in the face of cliffs, or sit on natural rock projections on mountain faces. A rock formation that resembles a rhinoceros with head raised. The Daxi settlement was the first discovered site of the Daxi culture . Although the Qutang Gorge is the furthest upstream of all the affected gorges, the impact of the Three Gorges Dam on

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858-399: 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 Qutang Gorge The Qutang Gorge ( Chinese : 瞿塘峽 ; pinyin : Qútáng Xiá ) is

897-719: 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 ) 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

936-572: 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 the Gorges' swift currents, saying they are horrific, and no one praised the local landscape [as] beautiful. It's [not] till I came to

975-471: 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, 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

1014-453: The flooding after the Three Gorges Dam is complete. Hanging coffins are a method of ceremonially placing the corpses of the deceased upon cliff sides, an ancient funeral custom of some minority groups , especially the Bo people of southern China. Coffins of various significant shapes were often carved out of a whole piece of wood. Hanging coffins either rest upon beams projecting outward from

1053-653: The most beautiful of all the Three Gorges. The gorge is part of Fengjie County of the Chongqing Municipality. Baidicheng was an ancient city on the northern shore of the Yangtze River. Baidicheng was also where Liu Bei , first emperor of the Kingdom of Shu during the Three Kingdoms era, died. There is a Liu Bei Memorial Temple and a Zhuge Liang Memorial Temple in Baidicheng. Baidicheng

1092-588: 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 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

1131-427: 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 the Three Gorges were formed, but geographers and geologists have generally reached a consensus, believing mountain folding in the east of Sichuan Province and

1170-624: The river. Since the earliest days, boats going downstream used oars just to get steerage way. Going upstream, human powered oars were no match to the rapid current. Thus gangs of humans, harnessed to a tow rope, hauled the boats upstream. These haulers needed a path along the steep cliffs to walk on. Thus the Ancient Pathways were built. Even today haulers can be seen as in 天山網. Over the years, these paths were expanded and improved. In addition to paths for haulers, paths were built for hauling goods up mountains. These higher paths would survive

1209-470: 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 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

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1248-606: The shortest of China's Three Gorges . Immediately downstream of the ancient village Baidicheng (白帝城) the Yangtze River passes between the Chijia Mountain (赤甲山) on the north and the Baiyan Mountain (白鹽山) on the south. The point where the river passes between these mountains is called the Kuimen Gate (夔門) and it is the entrance to the Qutang Gorge – the first of the three Yangtze gorges. The Qutang Gorge

1287-483: 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 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

1326-492: 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 the construction of the Three Gorges Dam was approved, archaeologists were allowed time and resources to carry out rescue work. However, after

1365-487: The top of the mountain saw him coming and crowed like a rooster. Meng Liang, thinking the morning had arrived, quickly abandoned his plan to avoid being caught. Holes such as these are used as a walk-way several places in the Three Gorges region. Poles were inserted into the holes and then either a walkway could be constructed or a person could walk from pole to pole. Historians do not know why these particular holes were constructed, nor do they know why they only reach part of

1404-442: 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 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

1443-548: 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 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

1482-668: The way up the cliff face. Remains of city walls have been located at the top of the cliff, and some historians have theorized that the pathway might have been intended to enable a person to access the city from the river. Another set of similar holes can be found near Wushan in the Little Three Gorges (小三峽) of the Daning River (大寧河). The local tourism agency in Wushan has placed poles in some of these holes so that tourists can see how they were used in ancient times. On

1521-486: 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 the area, between the southern mountains and Bashan Mountain ( 巴山 ), in the north, are comparatively lower; and in

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