Geography 

The Three Gorges area in Yangtze River is one of the world’s largest canyons with magnificent landscape of waters and mountains. It is also known as one of China’s top 10 scenic spots, various sightseeing spots, magnificent rivers, towering mountains and natural attractions famed at home and abroad are available across the Three Gorges area, where starting from Baidi Town, Fengjie County in Chongqing to Yichang, Hubei Province. 

Three Gorges area is the essence of the Yangtze River scenery and the gem of mountains and rivers in China. The grandness of Qutang Gorge, the enchantment of Wu Gorge and the steepness of Xiling Gorge, and more flaring small attractions such as Daling River, Shennong Stream, Xiang Stream and so on in Three Gorges area will draw your eyes and soul tightly. In terms of geography, the Three Gorges area starts from Yichang city, Hubei Province, however in convention especially in tourism and cruises, Wuhan is considered as the starting point of the Three Gorges area. 

Cultural History 

The cliffs, hills, water and forest in the Three Gorges Area in Yangtze River had given a great inspiration to Li Po, China’s world-renowned poet from the Tang Dynasty. He left us a splendid poem on landscape of the Three Gorges area with a picturesque image to our generation. The Three Gorges area becomes the romantic and fairy place for living and travel. In the depiction of Qu Yuan, the Three Gorges area is a heavenly place filled with diversity of herbs and rare plants, which just can be seen exclusively in Heaven. The splendid culture of the Three Kingdoms, exquisite monuments and magnificent landscapes constitute this world-famous gold line for touring, it is also known as the first choice in sightseeing tour at home and abroad. 

In your travel to the Three Gorges area from Yichang to Chongqing, you could experience the nether world, earthly world and heavenly world in a very short period. The well-famed Fengdu Ghost Town, the stone inscription of Ghost King and the attractive scenery let you learn much of China’s culture from the underworld. The earliest water-inspection station of ancient China in Fuling. The Will of Liu Bei (famous Emperor in Three Kingdoms Period of China) in Baidi Town, Zhangfei Temple (one renowned general in Shu State in the Three Kingdoms Period, and he was sworn brother of Shu’s Emperor Liu Bei) in Yunyang. The Eight-Diagram Tactics made by Zhuge Liang (the smartest Taoist and Confucian in ancient China). 

Three Gorges area is also the home to China’s most famous and patriotic poet, Qu Yuan and Wang Zhaojun, one of four most beautiful women in China’s history. The “hanging coffins” on the cliffs is an enigma, the Goddess Peak is romantic and mysterious. More and more amazing discoveries and attractions hiding in the itinerary of Three Gorges area will surprise and excite you too much. 

Folk Customs 

The majority of people here are Han and Tujia nationalities. They both keep the strong local customs. The dragon-boat racing formally held in Three Gorges area annually is for memorizing patriot Qu Yuan. The special bamboo produces backpack-baskets. The wedding ceremony of Tujia ethnic group is particularly interesting that will make your Three Gorges unforgettable. Chinese sturgeon, a kind of rare fish in the world, can also be seen here. It is not surprise to see there are many trees or bamboos surrounding a house, because it may mean that there is a beautiful unmarried girl in this family. The Three Gorges folk songs are easy listening. 

Climate 

The average annual temperature in the Three Gorges area is 18.4 degrees Celsius. In January, the average temperature is 7.1 degrees Celsius and the mean temperature in July, 29.3 degrees Celsius, very hot and humid. The annual average rainfall is about 1,400mm in Three Gorges area and mostly fallen in July and August. These climatic features are not much different from the Sichuan Basin, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. However, because the deepness in valleys, the time of sunshine is short. In winter, the sunshine available is merely 2 or 3 hours at midday and only 5 or 6 hours in summer. 

Transportation 

Onboard a cruise vessel may be the best choice for a Three Gorges tour. By water from Wuhan to Chongqing via Three Gorges area, i.e., the upstream, is quite time-consuming, but visitors will have sufficient time to see the landscape on both sides of Yangtze River, and the cost is low and acceptable. If you are planning to visit Three Gorges in a reverse direction, from Chongqing to Wuhan, it will quite fast and the landscapes on both sides of Yangtze are all available, too. However, if you like to tour by bus, train or plane, the attractions in the Three Gorges area are difficult to be seen.

The Three Gorges area is known for its fertile land, warm climate and abundant rainfall. The raw ingredients for Three Gorges cuisine are almost from the local areas and characterized of its local taste and flavors, to which visitors are generally hard to get at other places. Three Gorges area is rich in oranges; the dishes made of oranges are available and unique from other styles in other places of China. Bamboo is the common plant in the Three Gorges area, too. Bamboo shoot is another kind of materials for local cuisine. The locals usually take bamboo as utensils for meals. 

The diversity of fishes in the Three Gorges area provides the rich fresh water stuff for local cuisine. Chairman Mao Zedong (1893 – 1976) much preferred to eat Wuchang Fish recipe, which has been mentioned in his poems for several times. Feast of Boat Tracker in the Three Gorges is the most famous cuisine in this area. It is the simple dish enjoyed by local trackers. They catch some fresh crucian, bake them above the fire, and then cook the baked crucian with pickled vegetable. It is the tasty cuisine! Other than the dishes for regular meals, the local snacks are also widely welcomed in the Three Gorges area.

Three Gorges Scenery to be Submerged in 2009:

Natural Scenery: Gorge of Book on Art of War and Sword, Gorge of Dragon Gate, Phoenix Fountain, Gorge of Ox liver and Horse Lung, Waterfall of a Monk Stands Upside-down, Seven-gate Cave, Bayan Gorge and Guandao Gorge.

Man-made Scenery: Daxi Cultural Heritage Site, Qu Yuan Temple, The White Crane Ridge, Zhang Fei Temple, The Ding Mansion, The Unknown Mansion, Dachang Ancient Town, Feng Jie, The Kong Ming Stele, The Calligraphy Wall, Meng Liang Ladder, The Dragon Back Stone, Pipa Zhou, The Chu-State Tomb of Guling and The Path Qutang Gorges.

To be Partly Submerged in 2009:

Natural Scenery: Bawu Gorge, Gorge of Dropping Jade, Wu Gorge, Qutang Gorges, Lu You Cave and Kong Ling Gorge.

Man-made Scenery: The White Emperor’s Town, Shi Bao Stockade, Feng Du Mountains, Huang Hua Cheng, The Plank Road on the Ning River, Hanging Coffins in the Dragon Gate Gorge, Xituo Ancient Town and Zhongzhou Ancient Town.

New Attractions to be Appeared After the Implementation of Reservoir in 2009:

Canyons: The Little Three Gorges, The Temple Gorge, Tianjing Gorge, Lotus Gorge, Parrot Gorge, Seven-sister Gorge, The 13 Gorges of the Wu River, Ziyang Gorge, Tiankang Gorge and The Crescent Gorge.

Lakes: Sandouping, the White Emperor, Shibao, Fuling, Wuxia, Dachang, Wanzhou, Kaixian, Qukou, Gaoyang and Nanxi.

Caves: The Dragon Palace, Lotus, the Summery Ice, Shuangxi, Tiankang, Longgang, Huilong, Xueyu, Daguan, the Fairy and the Black Dragon.

Yangtze River is the longest river in China, also known as the Mother River of Chinese Nation. It originates at the southwest side of Geladandong Peak of Tanggula Mountain, Tibetan Plateau, China. Flowing down eastwards through the long and winding passage of Tibet, Qinghai, Yunnan, Sichuan, Chongqing, Hubei (passes through Wuhan), Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui, Jiangsu (Nanjing), and finally Shanghai into the East China Sea; 6,300 kilometers, with its valley area takes up of over 1,800,000 square kilometers, one fifth of China’s total land area.  

However, where the origin of the Yangtze River is, is quite controversial. There are two views held by some modern geographical experts. Yangtze River and Yellow River are originated from the same high mountain, that is, Bayan Har Shan (巴颜喀拉山) in Qinghai Province of western China; and Yangtze River from the southern foot of the mountain and Yellow River from the northern foot. Another saying is that Tibet’s Hohxil Mountain (可可西里山) is the origin of Yangtze River; and it is being divided into two branches of river – Muluwusu River (木鲁乌苏河) at the south and Chumaer River (楚玛尔河) at the north. Organized geographical investigation activities were engaged in summers of 1976 and 1978 by a team of scientists going to highlands, where regarded as the origins of rivers. The scientists found that the Yangtze River started from the area located between Kunlun and Tanggula Mountains, where they saw many rivers. The bigger rivers here are Chumaer, Tuotuo (沱沱河) and Dangqu (当曲河), of which Dangqu River is the biggest in the area with high flowing scale. However, by adopting the principle of “the origin of rivers is very far away”, they determined the origin of Yangtze River is in Tuotuo River, with Dangqu River and Chumaer River as southern and northern branch origin rivers respectively. 

The area is a highland that very cold and the air is quite thin. Over 40 peaks of more than 6,000 meters above sea level are seen. Annual precipitation is 200 to 400 millimeters of which mostly snowfall. The warmest month July, the daily average temperature is below 0 degree Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit), only above freezing point when the high sun radiation shines at noon. The melting snow and ice in glaciers on the plateau make many tiny streams, which are the first flows of Yangtze River. 

Yangtze River has passed through many of the different kinds of geology, tectonic settings, and of course different elevations and climate zones. It absorbed many small rivers and tiny streams on its passage. It can be divided into three categories according to different water and topological conditions – upper, middle and lower reaches. 

The upper reaches of Yangtze River are length 4,529 kilometers that takes up 72 percent of the river’s total length. The starting point is at the heart of the Tibetan Plateau, where the 4,000-meter-odd high altitude the river is shallow and wide. The width is 300 to 1,700 meters. Long, twisting and flowing very slowly with many small branch streams by the side of it. The section from Batang River to Yibin city in Sichuan Province is locally called Jinsha Jiang (River of Golden Sand) is another stage of changing topography. It is changing tremendously that the mountains are very high but the valleys are so deep. The river is flowing rapidly through the valleys. In Shigu (Stone Drum) in Yunnan Province, southwest China, Yangtze River is suddenly turns to northeast direction. The famous Hutiao (Jumping Tiger) Gorge is 35 kilometers away. The gorge is 16 kilometers long but the narrowest section is just 30 meters wide. After the Hutiao Gorge, the river will go into Yunnan-Guizhou Highlands and then to Sichuan Province. Traditionally Yangtze River (in Chinese: Changjiang, the Long River, literally) is the name used for the section at east of Yibin city. However, in Sichuan, Yibin to Yichang section is called Chuanjiang River (Sichuan River), 1,030 kilometers long. In the province, the riverbed is plain and the water is peaceful, because this is the Sichuan Basin. Going downward, the river will be wide and the water is flowing fast again. The upper reaches of Yangtze River ends in the Three Gorges Area. 

The 927-kilometer-long middle reaches start from Yichang, the Three Gorges. It is a plain area, too, the river is wide and the water is moving quite slowly. A certain part of it, which flows through Jingzhou (荆州) city near Wuhan, is called Jingjiang River (荆江). The water resources are so rich in the area that there are a lot of lakes along the valleys on two banks. The waters in lake and Yangtze River exchange one another. The giant water systems in Dongting Lake and Poyang Lake are linking to the great river, therefore the volume of discharge doubled.

Jingjiang River Dam, Yangtze River

The lower reaches are in eastern China, length of 844 kilometers. Yangtze River (扬子江, pronounced as Yang Zi Jiang), traditionally has been the name for the section in the cities of Yangzhou and Zhenjiang (where Yangtze is intersecting with Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal) in Jiangsu Province. It got the name because Yangzi Jin and Yangzi County, so westerners have been calling it the whole river “Yangtze” (the old spelling of Yangzi). The flowing volume in Jiangsu eastern area can reach 266,000 cubic meters per second, almost nine times the average rate in the rest of the river. However, in the Yangtze River Estuary, seawater will sometimes flow backward to the river mouth due to tidal waves of the East China Sea. This motion brings large amount of mud and sand to the riverbed. As time goes by, it forms many shoals or islands, of which the largest one is Chongming Island (崇明岛) in Shanghai.

 

 

Water is deep in the lower reaches and some part of the middle reaches, where large cruise vessels can sail through. Most part of Yangtze River is ice free, with the exception in high grounds on plateau, where without warm summer. Yangtze River provides adequate water source to irrigate the Chinese soil in the valley, feeding millions of Chinese people and giving abundant water energy.

Build up area of Fengjie County, Chongqing

The ancient and rich cultural Fengjie County (奉节县) is located in the east of the Chongqing City, bordering the Wushan County to the east and Hubei Province to the south. It has a history of about 2,400 years. The county takes up an area of 4099 sq. km, a mountainous region, which about 88 percent of land is high ground. The highest point in Fengjie County is 2123 meters above sea level while the lowest is the 86 meters, where it is the gap of the Qutang Gorge, before the construction of the Three Gorges Dam, to which the water will be storing up here. 

The majestic Qiyao Mountain is divided by the great Yangtze River, so the famous Qutang Gorge is formed here. The farther from the river, the higher the elevation, and the craggy mountains and the big river make the scene so eye-catching. Fengjie’s climate is typically sub-tropical monsoon with high relative humidity and high summer temperature, but the higher the elevation, the lower the annual average temperature. 

Fengjie County is also known as the Poem City. Many eminent Chinese poets, such as Wang Wei, Li Po, Du Fu, Bai Juyi, Su Shi (Su Dongpo), and Su Zhe had been there and they left many moving poems to chant the beautiful scenery of the county in Yangtze River.