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Wuhan to the Three Gorges
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Tai Chi class
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A quiet day on which to collect our thoughts and prepare for the couple of busy days ahead.
Started off with an early morning Tai Chi session before breakfast, followed by a talk on the Yangtze, known as the Changjiang, meaning Long River, to the Chinese.
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In the afternoon watched a documentary on the Three Gorges Dam project, but otherwise just read dozed and watched the views go by. At that point the river was wide and chocolate brown in colour with all the silt in it. Two Americans talking said 'the silts so thick you could plough it'.
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In the evening we were entertained by the boats staff. Apparently the waiters and waitresses are performers first and serving is their secondary job.
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Reached Yinghang about mid day and the Three Gorges Dam about an hour later. We were given a two hour tour of the dam construction site.
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The main Yangtze channel had been diverted along a widened secondary channel while they built the dam and locks across the main channel. With the dams completion in 2003 the remainder of the channel would then be block off and boats sent through the locks. The water behind the dam would be allowed to rise to 135m behind a cofferdam on the unfinished side. With completion of the final section in 2009 the water would rise to 175m. It was said that the dam was being built for four main reasons, 1) to control flooding 2) to generate electricity 3) to improve navigation 4) to provide water for irrigation. Any negative aspects were brushed aside with such comments as 'the benefits far out weigh any possible problems'.
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Dam under construction
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Whoever we asked about the impact of the dam on the local people the answer was that it is welcomed by the young because they were getting more modern accommodation in the new towns and villages being constructed, but that the elderly were reluctant to more.
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Most people were moving to higher ground but 2/3 of farmers who were loosing their land and couldn't be found new land locally were moving to other regions. Depending on who was ask, between 1.2M and 1.9M people would need to be relocated due to the dam.
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Gorge narrows
at Kongling
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In the late afternoon we made our way through the fist of the Three Gorges, the Xiling Gorge, this actually comprises of two separate gorges, which would make four in all. However, the number four is considered unlucky as it is the same world as for death in Chinese and so the first two are combined to give a total of three gorges.
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So as not to pass through the next gorge during the night the boat anchored for the evening.
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Chinese families often live with three generations in the same house. The parents work and the grand parents take care of the children.
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During the night the boat slipped anchor to get into position for an early morning passage through Wu Gorge, which was as magnificent as Xuling Gorge. But the best bit awaited us after breakfast with a trip in a smaller boat up the Lesser Three Gorges on the Daning River at Wushan. They may have been lesser in size but the narrow width of the river and the closeness of the cliffs made them more spectacular, enhanced also by the jade coloured water which replaced the chocolate brown of the Yanktze.
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Sun rise
Wu Gorge
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Lesser Three Gorges
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At one time a path had been constructed though the gorge by cutting square holes in the rock face and inserting posts into the holes and laying planks on top.
Along these gorges, as well as in parts of the Yangtze there had been a culture that put their dead in coffins that were either placed in rock crevices high up on the cliff or on posts jutting out from the rock. Each coffin contained two bodies, a man who had died of natural causes, and a young woman who had been sacrificed to accompany him into the after life.
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On the return journey back down the Daning we stopped to stretch our legs and collect a few small stones.
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We passed through the final gorge of Qutang in the afternoon. This was the smallest of the three gorges and after feasting on the views on the previous two gorges and the Lesser Three Gorges we had come to accept the marvellous views as common place. The gorge was narrow in places and the boats could only pass in one direction at a time. At each end of the narrow section was a signalling station to control the traffic, whilst the larger boats such as ours obeyed the signals the smaller cargo boats and ferries were a law unto themselves.
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Quantang Gorge
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Old & new at Wanxian
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The boat stopped at of Wanxian, a major port of 450,000 people on the north bank of the Yangtze and one that would be greatly affected by the dam project. Half the population would need to be relocated and 40% of those had already been moved to their new homes. But contrary to earlier claims that most people were happy to move to new modern homes, most of them still returned to their former homes to share the community spirit of their old neighbourhood as they had not been able to form new friendships in their new locality.
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During a tour of the town we were taken to see a young persons acrobatic performance. An act by a young man balancing a candle on his head whilst carrying out various contortions was very good. A visit to a museum with an exhibition about the hanging coffins followed.
Back on board, after lunch, we attended a talk on the Chinese language that was very interesting.
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Acrobat
Wanxian
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In the afternoon the boat anchored up for a couple of hours as traffic on the river was stopped whilst cables were being laid across. On the shore near us there seemed to be what we believed was a wedding ceremony, we could hear but not see the sound of chanting and bells
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The evening was completed with a staff and passenger talent show. The Ramblers kept their talents to themselves and left it to the Americans to perform!
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Today was the 5th day of the 5th lunar month of the Chinese calendar and the day of dragon boat festivals to celebrate a poet.
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Cultivation of hillside
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With the hold up yesterday we were running about 3 hours late and so we had a leisurely start to the day, but we would pay for it later!
With the morning being misty we sat on deck reading, writing and watching the change of scenery which had flattened out though there were still low hills. The houses became more numerous with small towns and villages here and there. The unpopulated views of the gorges gave way to small plots of land growing a varieties of crops - maize, bananas, oranges etc., with the occasional goats and cows.
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Reach Chongqing at 15.30 and as our flight wasn't until 19.50 we were taken on a city tour. Chongquing is now the largest city in China with over 36M people in the catchment area and we had not heard of it before our China trip. The tour started with the Peoples Great Hall which had been the forum for the cities government, but as it was now an municipality governed nationally, it had been turned into a concert hall and hotel. A gallery to Tibetan art was also at the hall, the art was beautiful but expensive, but probably worth it.
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Peoples Hall
Chongqing
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Following on we looked into a silk factory to see silk being spun and woven(a visit to some sort of factory with shop attached would become a daily ritual in an attempt to extract our hard currency). A short work in a park filled in the time until we were due at the airport for our flight to Xian.
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For our in-flight snack we were given dried fish, Dianne ate hers, we had thought of taking mine back for the cat.
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Ate late at the airport then drove into the city to arrive at our hotel after 23.00 and ready for bed.
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