Yangtze River
The Yangtze is one of the longest rivers in the world. This is a typical scene along the 4-day cruise, going upstream from Wuhan to Chongqing.
Xiling Gorge
There were these enormous steep hills along most of the route and every so often there were would be 200 metre height markers to show how high the river would rise once the dam was completed. It was very difficult to imagine such a massive river rising so high.
I used to love just sitting at the front of the boat seeing the spectacular scenery float slowly by. A great way to chill out. I had planned to take a swim in the Yangtze – Mao style. However the water looked far too dirty to try.
The Lesser Three Gorges. The bridge to the right of the main photo was due to be demolished, as the Yangtze would rise up to it after the dam is completed. This gives some idea of the scale of the project. The photo below shows the same bridge from the other direction on our Daning River excursion.
Typical fishing boats on the Yangtze
Wanxian, a stop off point to sightsee and browse the local markets. Most of the buildings in the lower part of the city in the photo on the right will be lost due to the Three Gorges Dam project when it is completed. The official figure is that about one million people will have been displaced by the rise of the Yangtze. Everyone we spoke to seemed to think that it was going to be few million at least.
Gezhouba Lock
This is part of an earlier dam on the Yangtze. However it doesn’t provide anywhere near the power that the Three Gorges Dam is planned to deliver. It was still pretty massive.