The
Three Gorges is a series of
cliff-lined sections of the
Long River (
Changjiang in
Mandarin), which is often confused for the
Yellow River. These are the two main
rivers of
China, both are quite
long and are major East-West transportation
routes for
grain,
agricultural products,
pale devil tourists, and the like.
The Long River is normally fairly placid, at the Three Gorges the narrow cliffs funnel the water into furious, twisting rapids. The Three Gorges have some majestic scenery, they make up 125 miles of the river, from Chongqing in Sichuan to Hubei province in the center of China.
The shortest gorge is the most visually spectacular, known as the Windbox to foreigners, Qutang Gorge to us. The cliffs soar to heights of 4000 feet on both sides of the narrow rapids, usually with a light mist covering the trees growing out the side. A grand sight indeed, but it is fairly dangerous in high waters, the rocks smash rafts and boats into bits.
For an lofty price, grizzled old boatmen can take you on a tour on a raft, they know every rock and eddy in the entire length of river. For the weak-hearted, there are smallish ferries and yachts. Various caves along the way make for good exploration, there are also temples and pagodas for the devout.
A project to dam the gorges is in progress now, it will relocate several thousand people (contrary to Western media myth, relocated peasants get plenty of compensation), raise the water level a bit, but the Three Gorges remain tourist-fit. When completed, it will provide enough electricity for the entire Sichuan region, about 150 million Chinese. Several environmental extremists such as Greenpeace have camped out at the construction sites. The Chinese authorities do not have to go through the nice little procedures as Western police, the protestors were arrested en masse and expelled from China, making for more bad PR, but at this point, China does not care a bit.