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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. The starting point of many boat trips on the Yangtze River, it is located on the confluence of Jialing and Yangtze Rivers on the edge of the Three Gorges dam reservoir.
Even so it was heavily bombed. Chongqing known in the old days as Chungking is listed as the third largest city in China after Shanghai and Beijing and ahead of Tianjin, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Chengdu the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th largest cities in China. Chongqing is home to between Some say the urbanized area has a a population of only 7 or 8 million. The municipality is home to about 31 million people Chongqing is one of the nine national central cities in the People's Republic of China PRC.
Administratively, it is one of the PRC's four direct-controlled municipalities the other three are Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin , and the only such municipality in inland China. The core districts cover5, The central urban area of Chongqing, or Chongqing proper, is unique for a city in that it has been built on mountains and is surrounded on three sides by the Yangtze and Jialing river, earning it the names "mountain city" and "city on rivers".
Chonqing is famous for hot pot and is nicknamed the "furnace of the Yangtze". Chongqing city was built on a rock promontory at the confluence of the Yangtze and Chia-ling Rivers. It is situated at the transitional area between the Tibetan Plateau and the plain of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Chongqing municipality slopes downward from north and south towards the Yangtze River valley, with sharp rises and falls.
The Yangtze River runs through the whole area from west to east, covering kilometers miles and piercing through the Wu Mountains. Chongqing River Port is is one of the most important inland ports in China. Numerous luxury cruise ships and many not so luxurious ones depart from Chongqing, heading downstream along the Yangtze River to Yichang, Wuhan, Nanjing or Shanghai. There are also ones heading in the other direction.
In the old days such boats were the primary mode of transportation. These days there are ordinary trains, fast trains and regular flights are river traffic has been greatly reduced or cancelled. Most of the river ferries and boats cater to tourists rather than provide transpor for locals.
The construction of the Three Gorges Dam has made it easier for large boats to travel up the Yangtze as far as Chongqing and has allowed bulk transport of goods on the Yangtze River.
Coal, raw minerals and containerized goods provide the majority of traffic plying this section of the river. The gorges have recently filled up with water and become part of the reservoir behind the Three Gorges Dam.
The scenery is not as spectacular as it once was but is still pretty good. Extending for almost kilometers, the Three Rivers Gorge is a channel of rock cut through towering mountains by the Yangtze River.
What makes the area so incredible is the height of the limestone mountains, the steepness of the cliffs, and the narrowness of the river. In some places the cliffs are meters high. In other places, there are fantastic rock towers and crags with ferns, plants and trees growing on ledges and in cracks.
In the distance are green mountains. Along the slopes are farmers tending small plots. Through much of the gorges, there is no shore or place for a boat to go except down river. In the narrower portions of the gorges the water used to move with alarming speed but has now been smoothed out by the Three Gorges Dam. In other places, the water has always been calm and sailboats can actually be pushed upstream by powerful winds that gain force where the gorge narrows. The Three Gorges themselves are: Wu the deepest gorge , Xiling the longest gorge and Qutang only five miles long but regarded the most beautiful of the three gorges.
According to legend they were created by the goddess Yao Ji to redirect the Yangtze around the petrified remains of a dozen dragons she had slain for tormenting peasants. The gorges themselves are kilometers long and cover an area of square kilometers, including Wuxia gorge, Qutang gorge, Xiling gorge and some wide valleys between these gorges. Qutang Gorge is 8 kilometers long and is celebrated for its magnificent, peculiar and precipitous scenery in the world; Wuxia Gorge is 42 kilometers long and is serene and secluded and presents a panorama of lovely scenery; and Xiling Gorge is 66 kilometers long and is well-known for its dangerous rugged shoals and the turbulent waters.
The mountains and water in Three Gorges are in various postures and are a mysterious natural gallery. The Three Gorges has become world-famous for its large and precipitous valleys and rich historical and cultural intentions. They can be for sightseeing, sport, exploration, archaeological studies and scientific investigation. Some of the boats are in good condition and tourist have had a wonderful time. Others have broken plumbing, sagging beds, shabby cabins, poor maintenance and rats, and tourists have an awful time.
If you are worried about getting stuck on bad boat you are advised to make your travel arrangements with a reputable tour operator like Victoria Cruises Tel: , Viking River Cruises Tel: ; and Uniworld Grand River Cruises Tel: 1- Most of the downstream cruises begin in Chongqing. Passengers usually disembark at Yichang or Wushan, but some continue downriver 1, miles to Shanghai. The high season months are April, May, September and October.
During the winter, the views are often veiled by mists. The Three Gorges has been diminished by the dam but not affected too much. Boats that ran along the river expect to continue working on the lake. Mountains that towered 2, to 3, feet above the water will be 2, feet to 3, feet above the water instead. The cliffs are still impressive in many places but the once raging currents have been tamed and the water is now calm.
Dizzing footpaths that had ben carved into the cliffs have been submerged. The river's largest port, in Chongqing, is the departure point for our trip We take a boat for domestic tourists rather than one of the swanky crafts favored by most foreigners. These include the recently launched MS Yangzi Explorer, which has all the facilities of a five-star hotel, including movie theater, espresso bar and fitness center.
We reason this is a holiday away from the treadmill and there will be more local color on the good ship Hainei Guanguang We are not disappointed. The boat is set to sail at pm and the agency boss arrives at our hotel with a "bang-bang man" to carry our luggage. These migrant workers earn a living by transporting heavy goods with just a bamboo pole. Our porter is gaunt and short but carries our luggage at a clip and arrives by the quayside before we do.
Not bad for 15 minutes of work. No amount of perfume can disguise the smell emanating from the hole that passes as a toilet, despite my mother's best efforts. There are four decks above water and a couple below, where the accommodations are decidedly spartan and close to the ship's engines.
Meanwhile, our ship's captain creates a kind of son et lumiere experience by shining a searchlight on the far bank and sounding his foghorn. Early next morning we are between Fengdu and Zhongxian. The scenery has changed from industrial to post-industrial beached, rusting ships and farmland. There's no fan or air conditioning and although the cabin window is open as far as it can go the atmosphere is muggy, which drives everyone up for air onto the decks.
The mist clears and there's a scent of honeysuckle, which is grown for its medicinal properties. Families stake out territories by sitting in a circle on the prow and pass around steamed buns for breakfast. Someone commandeers a small plastic chair and scans the bank with binoculars. Most passengers seem content to enjoy the scenery, talk or read. This might have been a mistake. There is an abundance of interesting stopover points, we are told, among them the "ghost city" of Fengdu; Wanxian's night market; historic temples in Fengjie; and the Qu Yuan Shrine in Zigui.
We stop for a couple of hours in one port and an army of surveyors comes on board with tape measures. We halt again at a floating station for gasoline. Nevertheless, we're content and there's plenty to see not just from the boat, but also on it. We take the occasional stroll below-decks where, in the absence of organized entertainment, there are long games of cards in smoky cabins. Relaxation is key.
The majority of our fellow travelers wear flip-flops, pajamas and T-shirts rolled up to expose belly buttons. As for dining, it's best to take your own supplies, otherwise you'll be buying pot noodles at the shop, or experiencing galley food, a diet of rice and vegetables seasoned with pickles and washed down with beer.
There's fresh excitement at this juncture and every other passenger becomes a photographer-even if all they have is a phone. They snap towering limestone cliffs and point out the famous peaks. The river here is sometimes more like a lake, with islands in the middle inhabited by farmers. They tend orange groves, herb gardens and golden rape fields. The blossoms of spring and the falling leaves of autumn makes these the ideal seasons for a cruise. Summer is too hot and winter, too cold.
We arrive early afternoon in Yichang, which used to be known as "Gateway to the Gorge", but is now as much a stopping off point for visits to the Three Gorges Dam.
But we have had enough of adventure and it's good to be back on terra firma. Comprised of one massive dam and several smaller dams, it is the world's largest hydroelectric project and is named after the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River, one of China's great natural wonders, which the reservoirs behind the dams will partly submerge. The Three Gorges Dam is a cement dam that is meters feet high and runs for 1.
It contains twenty-six ton turbines, the world's largest. The reservoir produced by dam is miles long kilometers , about the same length as Lake Superior. A total of miles of canyons with spectacular limestone formations were submerged when the Three Gorges Dam is completed in Three Gorges Dam is five times wider than Hoover dam and is as tall as a 60 story building.
Large ships bypass the dam via two five-stage locks that raise or lower the ships feet. Smaller vessels will be moved up and down on a ship elevator. Three Gorges is the world's largest dam in terms of water displacement, flood control; and power generation. In the mountainous areas, precipitation is primarily snow. The river volume fluctuates widely, depending on the time of year and the section of the river. Upstream, the average flow is about 70, cubic feet 1, cubic meters per second, according to Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Farther downstream, as more tributaries join the primary stream, the volume gradually increases. Before the completion of the Three Gorges Dam, water volume in the Yangtze was about , cubic feet 15, cubic meters at the end of the Three Gorges region and up to 1,, cubic feet 31, cubic meters at its mouth, according to Encyclopaedia Britannica.
These numbers have decreased somewhat due to the dam. The suspended sediment load sediment that is carried in the water flow and never quite settles on the bottom at the mouth of the river is about million tons a year — one of the highest sediment loads of any river on earth. The Yangtze River basin, an area covering million acres, is one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth — from towering mountains and thick forests to marshy wetlands and waterways, according to the World Wildlife Fund WWF.
The region is home to more than species of mammals, species of amphibians, species of reptiles and species of fish, according to WWF. Species of fish include the yellow head catfish, carp, copper fish, Chinese shad, eel, anchovies and the Chinese puffer fish, according to YangtzeRiver.
Statuses range from vulnerable high risk of endangerment in the wild to endangered high risk of extinction in the wild to critically endangered extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. The giant panda , which was recently moved from the endangered list to the slightly better status of vulnerable , lives in the bamboo forests of the Upper Yangtze region.
Although the giant panda has no natural predators, human activity has led to only a little more than 1, in the wild, according to WWF. The Yangtze River is also home to the vulnerable finless porpoise. Only about 1, of them exist in the wild. Their troubles stem from dwindling sources of food and human activity, including boat traffic.
These rare porpoises live mainly in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. The critically endangered Chinese alligator , which numbers only around in the wild, also lives in the lower regions of the river and its surrounding lakes.
Although the Chinese alligator resembles the American gator, it is much smaller, reaching lengths of only 5 feet 1.
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