Slow-sailing cruise boats offer spectacular views and short stops at historical and cultural sites, such as the world-famous Three Gorges Dam and the more mysterious Fengdu Ghost Town, which got its reputation from local folklore.
Tourists can also walk within an ancient city called Jingzhou with city walls and battlefields that are described in the Chinese literary classic "Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Further west on the upper reaches of the Yangtze is the scenic canyon Tiger Leaping Gorge, about miles kilometers from the Tibetan border, which ranks among the deepest gorges in the world.
It is named for a tiger that is said to have escaped humans by leaping across the fierce waters where the canyon narrows. The river's most famous attraction abroad is the world's largest hydropower project, the Three Gorges Dam, built to control flooding along a stretch of the river in Hubei Province. The cruise ship that capsized Monday night had not yet reached the dam from its starting point in Nanjing. The dam started operating in after nine years of construction.
The project has courted controversy because of geological and ecological concerns and the hundreds of thousands of people that were relocated to make way for it; authorities, however, say it was the best way to end centuries of flooding along the river. The Chinese sturgeon has been around for million years. It grows very slowly and was among the first class of animals to be protected in China. Harvests of aquatic life from the river declined from , tons in the s to , tons in the s.
The Yangtze River frequently overflows its banks and fills huge plains with large amounts of water, causing catastrophic flooding. There are floods every year during the June-to-September monsoon season. On average at least several hundred people are killed in Yangtze River floods every year. Some years there are devastating floods. The Yangtze is responsible for 70 to 75 percent of China's floods. Floods on the river in the 20th century alone have killed more than , people. There were catastrophic floods on the Yangtze in , and and Over 2, are believed to have died in the flood of Some 4, died in the floods in In , , people were drowned when Yangtze dikes gave way.
A Yangtze River flood in killed 30, people outright and perhaps an additional , through starvation and disease. One villager who lived through it told the Washington Post, "The corpses were put in coffins but they could not be buried.
They were just stacked up. In , there were large floods on the Huai River in Anhui province. Flood waters turned hilltop villages into islands; left pig and chickens on rooftops; and caused one lake to exceed its shore by five kilometers.
A similar flood occurred in In the summer , monsoon floods caused by the overflowing upper and middle Yangtze, left at least dead and 1. More than 66 million people were affected. In the summer of , the Yangtze experienced its worst floods in 44 years.
More than 4, people were killed, The floods submerged 21 million acres of land, affected 53 million acres and destroyed 11 million acres of crops. More than 5. Dikes were blown up in Jianli County to save Wuhan, a city of seven million people miles upstream. Even so waters reached waist level in downtown Wuhan. Some people were evacuated on short notice and lost most of their possessions.
Some tied their stuff in trees above the flood water because they couldn't carry them. Soldiers and police were called in to evacuate a half million people, keep order, prevent looting and stop the flooding. Dramatic footage was shown on Chinese television of soldiers risking their lives to reach from trees to pluck victims from the raging waters and working hard to shore up dikes with sandbags.
Severe rainfall was the main cause of the floods but man-induced factors included deforestation of erosion-subverting forests in the Yangtze river basin and other areas also contributed to the disaster. Rain water absorbed by forests and vegetation flows more slowly to rivers and streams, preventing flooding.
Other problems included the inhabitation of vulnerable flood plains by large numbers of people , people were evacuated from an area in which , were evacuated in ; the silting up and development of lakes that previously absorbed flood waters; and the neglect of dikes. Some of the money was diverted to the Three Gorges Dam project.
After the floods, dikes were reinforced at considerable expense and hundreds of thousands of people that lived near the banks were forced to relocate.
In Tibet, the Yangtze river is known as the Jinsha. The Yangtze originates from several tributaries in the eastern part of the Tibetan Plateau, two of which are commonly referred to as the "source. This is not the furthest source of the Yangtze, but is the highest source at 5, meters 17, feet above sea level. This source was only discovered in the late 20th century and lies in a wetlands area at and 5, meter 16, feet above sea level just southeast of Chadan Township in Zadoi County, Yushu Prefecture, Qinghai.
As the historical spiritual source of the Yangtze, the Geladandong source is still commonly referred to as the source of the Yangtze. These tributaries join and the river then runs eastward through Qinghai Tsinghai , turning southward down a deep valley at the border of Sichuan and Tibet to reach Yunnan. In the course of this valley, the river's elevation drops from above 5, meters 16, feet to less than 1, meters 3, feet.
Upper Yangtze The Upper Yangtze flow through some of the roughest country in China, including some of the world's deepest valleys and gorges that are so steep and narrow, they funnel the Yangtze into a meter-deep channel, making it the deepest river in the world.
Many of the towns on the upper Yangtze are precipitously located on steep slopes. They have narrow streets that run parallel to the river and are connected by slick stone stairways that run perpendicular to the river. The Yangtze falls from an elevation of 5, meters to 2, meters in its first 1, kilometers. Here the upper reaches of three of Asia's mightiest rivers — the Yangtze, Mekong, and the Salween — flow parallel to one another within a kilometer mile band, divided by high mountain ridges.
The Yangtze river, known in this area as the Jinsha, marks the boundary between Tibet and Kham. The Mekong is known as the Lancang. The Salween is called the Nujiang or Nu. The area is stunningly beautiful but rarely visited because the terrain carved by the rivers is so severe and rugged. Fed by monsoon rains, the Yangtze, Mekong and Salween all sweep east of the Himalayas then drop due south, parallel to one another, before heading off in different directions.
The gorges of the upper Yangtze, Mekong and Salween are among the deepest in the world, each twice the depth of the Grand Canyon, and reaching three kilometers in some places. Each gorge is separated from the others by towering mountains with more than a hundred peaks over 5, meters. The half million or human inhabitants include more than a dozen ethnic groups and Han Chinese workers. The area was not explored by Westerners until the s and s.
The first roads were gouged into the area to exploit the area's timber in the s. Entire mountainsides of old growth forest were clear cut. Logging was cut back in the late s partly in response to flooding on the Yangtzethat killed 4, and left more than a million homelessthat was blamed on deforestation-caused erosion.
By the late s tourism began making inroads into the region and quickly displaced logging as the main money earner. People also began making money from harvesting medicinal herbs and matsutake mushrooms to export to Japan. Now the biggest issue concerning the region is how extensively to dam to the Jinsha, Lancang and Nu. The Jinsha has four dams under construction as of The Lancang already has three. Two are under construction and nine more are proposed.
There are two on the Nu and a plan put on the table in calls for 13 more. The site is an epicentre of Chinese biodiversity. It is also one of the richest temperate regions of the world in terms of biodiversity.
The Property contains an outstanding diversity of landscapes, such as deep-incised river gorges, luxuriant forests, towering snow-clad mountains, glaciers, and alpine karst, reddish sandstone landforms Danxia, lakes and meadows over vast vistas. The 1. The property spans a large portion of the Hengduan Mountains, which is the major arc curving into Indochina from the eastern end of the Himalayas. Being located in the convergent regions of the three world's major biogeographic realms, the property is in an epicentre of Chinese biodiversity.
It may also harbour the richest biodiversity among the temperate areas of the world. Tiger Leaping Gorge 60 kilometers northwest of Lijiang is one of the world's deepest gorges: the distance between the Yangtze River and the top of Jade Dragon Snow mountain above is 3, meters 12, feet.
According to legend, a hunted tiger escaped certain death by leaping across the River of Golden Sands "Jinsha Jiang" , wisely choosing the gorge's narrowest point. Hiking trails line the gorge, providing breathtaking views and awesome climbs. There is a popular two-or three-day, kilometers in the gorge between the villages of Daju and Qiatou. Most people do the hike in two days, walking hours each day.
There are upper, middle and lower sections to the hike. Hikers usually go as part of a tour or take the bus or get a group together for minibus to Qiatou which is more difficult get back from than Daju in the morning.
They hike the first day to Walnut Grove, where there are a couple of small guesthouses, and then hike the next day to Daju, where you can catch a local bus or minibus to Lijiang. See the Lonely Plant guides for more details. It is one of the deepest gorges in the world. A road has been carved into one side of Tiger Leaping Gorge for cars and buses.
Work is being done on a road on the other side. Travel Information: Best time to visit: May to July; Admission: 50 yuan for adults, 25 yuan for students.
Shigu 60 kilometers from Lijiang is located where the Yangtze makes a famous 90 degree turn. It is a charming town of mud brick and gray tile homes with towering slopes and mountains in the background. A drum-shaped white marble stele was erected in a hillock at the corner of the Jinsha River, hence the name Shigu Stone Drum Town.
At the end of ancient Lianzi bridge is a small art gallery. The Yangtze River runs across the Tibetan Plateau and enters Yunnan from its northwest, known as Jinsha River which flows through the high mountains and deep valleys of the Hengduan Mountains together with the Lancang River and Nujiang River. The river in Shigu Ferry is wide and the water flows slowly good for boats across the river.
It was a place of military strategic importance all through the ages. Boats leave twice a day for Tiger Leaping Gorge. Chongqing on the Yangtze River, 1, kilometers west of Shanghai and kilometers east-southeast of Chengdu is dirty, industrial city of almost 16 million people.
China's Southwest region, especially where the Yangtze River flows through it Northwest Yunnan , is the densest area for different ethnic minorities in China. Their cultures and folk customs are very varied.
This region is a good place to discover China's minority cultures. The Yangtze River is regarded as the dividing line between North China and South China by many people, but actually it should the Yangtze's northern watershed. However, the official geographical dividing line between North China and South China is the Qinling Mountains the Yangtze's central northern watershed and the Huai River. Comparing the north side and south side of this line, there are obvious differences in climatic conditions, geographical features, agricultural production, foods eaten, and people's living customs.
It has played an important role in China's history and cultural development. Wudang, Mt. See Yangtze Attractions. Chongqing is the center of finance, science and technological innovation, shipping and trade, and logistics in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.
Wuhan is located in the center of China, and is the largest transportation hub and shipping center in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. Nanjing has long been the political, economic and cultural center of South China.
It has a special status in Chinese history. Shanghai is the largest city in China, and by city proper population it's the largest city in the world. It's location at the mouth of the Yangtze aided its development as a one of the largest ports in the world.
This fact should be remembered by those who are planning a trip. Taking a Yangtze cruise is a popular way to discover China. A Yangtze River cruise will give you the opportunity to see some of the most spectacular scenery imaginable. The route between Chongqing and Yichang is the most outstanding section of the Yangtze.
When we mention Yangtze River cruises, cruises between Chongqing and Yichang are always the first to pop to mind. They take 4 days and 3 nights and are downstream. Start Your Trip Today. View details ». Toggle navigation. Trip to China. HighlightsQuitoLocally guided city tour and view the Palace of Cong
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