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Yangtze River - 1995

Yangtze River - 1995

Jacek Pałkiewicz
2006-06-18 21:30:25

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of the water was a swirling mass of whirlpools sucking the froth they created into their centres. Xiling comprises seven small gorges and two of the fiercest rapids in the stretch of the Yangtze between Chongqing and Yichang.

On entering the western entrance the boat passes through the four-kilometre (2.4-mile) long. The name of the gorge refers to a stratified layer of rock resembling a stack of books, and a perpendicular rock shaft below it, at a small cave on the north bank. There are two stories told of these formations, both concerning heroes from the classical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

One legend has it that Zhuge Liang 181--234), military adviser to the King of Shu, became seriously ill while passing this way. Unwilling to entrust his valuable military treatises to any member of his entourage, he placed them up here on this inaccessible ledge, to be kept safe for later generations. The second tale is also about huge Liang. It was he who devised the stratagems which enabled Liu Bei, the king, to defeat the Kingdom of Chu and establish the, Minor Han dynasty (AD 22l--63).Afraid that he would eventually fall out of favour, Zhuge Liang retired from official life and went into seclusion, hiding his military writings and sword here.

A large cleft rock stands at the mouth of a ravine--Rice Granary Gorge (MicangXia)--on the south side. Fine sand, blown by river winds, piles up O. this rock, and slowly sifts through a hole underneath. People call this Zhuge Liang's Granary. Further on, the perilous Xin Tan (new rapid) rushes over submerged rocks, the oily surface of the water churned by whirlpools. In 1524, rock slides from the northern mountainside created this 3.2-kilometre, (l.9-mile) long, triple-headed rapid. The fall of the riverbed had been estimated at about 6 metres (20 feet), but today it has a drop of only 2 metres (6.5 feet).

When the water level was Iow, junks would unload their cargo and be hauled ...