长江三峡的英文介绍(完整)

The Yangtze Three Gorges

The Yangtze Three Gorges, one of the ten most famous tour sites of China, proudly stands at the top of the best 40 in China’s hottest scenic spots. Meanwhile, it also enjoys the reputation for one of the best 35 China’s king scenic spots and 16 special touring routes. Your steps into Yichang will take you to the greatest paintings of the elegant Three Gorges gallery. Though the Three Gorges Project reservoir began reserve water, the three gorges stand still with their elegance and verve. The Xiling Gorge is still deep and serene; the Wu Gorge is still beautiful; while the Qutang Gorge is still steep and magnificent. At the same time, the new Three Gorges bring you infinite new views. New sceneries created by the reservoir will add extra mysteries to you and make your trip rich and colorful.

Yichang, as the door of the Three Gorges, is the optimal start place for the marvelous and attractive tour through Three Gorges.

The Three Gorges consist of the Xiling Gorge, the Wu Gorge and the Qutang Gorge. And they extend over 193 km from Daidi Castle in the west, Fengjie county of Chongqing municipality, to Nanjin Guan of Yichang city in the east, Hubei province. It's the prime landscape along the Yangtze River, as well as the treasure of the China mountains and rivers. Through ages, the charming gorges have admired thousands of foreign and Chinese tourists whole heartedly.

Now, distinguished friends, let's start the amazing trip through the Three Gorges.

Xiling Gorge

The elegant Xiling Gorge starts from Guandu Kou of the Zigui County in the west, and ends to Nanjin Guan of Yichang in the east. Its total length of 114 km ranks the longest in the three gorges, among which 66 km is for gorges (31 km above dam, 35km below dam). The name “Xiling”, standing for “West Mountains”, came from its specific situation as it’s situated in the west of Yichang, and especially, it’s the west border of the ancient Chu State. These gorges become famous for dangerous and spectacular location. In Xiling Gorge, there are 3 shoals (Xie Shoal, Qing Shoal and Kongling Shoal) and 4 gorges (Dengying Gorge, Huangniu Gorge, Niugan Mafei Gorge, and Bingshu Baojian Gorge). Series of gorges and shoals make the water flow speedy and complex here. Ouyang Xiu of the North Song Dynasty praised “the mountains and water of Xiling are the finest under heaven”. Marshal Chen Yi of P.R.C also praised “Xiling is the finest in the Three Gorges, and everyone will forget to r eturn for thick delight”. From the ancient times, the boat trackers kept their living here for generations, dragging the boats upstream and fighting against the riptide. An ancient idiom saying “Boats hard to sail in Xiling, even ghosts are afraid of reefs” is the vivid description. After the completion of the Gezhouba Hydropower Station, a big reservoir came into being in the upstream, which raised the water line and

submerged those dangerous shoals. Additionally, after the foundation of the People’s Republic of China, the government dredged up the river way several times and destroyed many dangerous reefs. Thanks to all these actions, we can enjoy our safe and leisure touring through these beautiful gorges today.

Nanjin Guan (the Nanjin Col)

Nanjin Guan is the start point of the Yangtze Three Gorges, as well as the boundary separating of the upstream and midstream of the Yangtze River. After the ship sailing upstream through the Nanjin Guan, the width of the Yangtze River becomes sudden narrow from 2000 m to 300 m. It tells the beginning of your colorful tour in the beautiful painting of the Three Gorges.

Dengying Gorge (the Shadowgraph Gorge)

12 km west to Nanjin Guan, we will reach the Dengying Gorge (the Shadowgraph Gorge), which is also called “Mingyue Gorge (the Bright Moon Gorge)”. It’s a short but extraordinary gorge. The walls of the gorge are smooth and clean, just like having been polished carefully by Nature’s engineering. Being mirrored by the sky, the walls look like a lifelike traditional Chinese landscape painting. If you get here at night, the landscape in the moon light will show you a dreamland beyond words description. That’s the origin of another name, “the Bright Moon Gorge”. The Dengying Gorge, which means “the Shadowgraph Gorge”, got its name from the figure of the mountains. In the south bank, four peculiar stones look like four characters in the famous Chinese legend “Record of a journey to the west”. In sunset, when we look at them from the gorge, they are vivid like telling the story by the shadowgraph. So, the gorge here is also called “the Shadowgraph Gorge”.

Li Siguang’s Tectonic Formation

Get to Liantuo in the north bank of the Xiling Gorge by ship, you will find the geological section formed in the Cambrian period. In the Three Gorges, you can find kinds of mature stratum formed in every geological age from 2.5 billion years ago to 1 million years ago. The world renowned Li Siguang’s Tectonic Formation (the tectonic formation was found by the Chinese geologist, Mr. Li Siguang) was found here in the Xiling Gorge, which attracted strong interest from the world geology field. The formation was recognized as “the natural geological museum”, and “the living fossil” of the geological mechanical formation. You would obviously feel that time has brought great changes to the world when you visit the Geology Park and the Li Siguang’s Tectonic Formation.

Xianren Bridge (the Sage’s Bridge)

A few minutes while the ship goes west, in the north bank, we will see the Xianren Bridge (the Sage’s Bridg e), a natural stone 1-meter-wide bridge spanning 15 meters on the mountain, where is the best place for enjoying the beauties of the Xiling Gorge. When

you stand there, everything in miles of the Xiling Gorge will be taken in a glance. It’s said legendaril y that once upon a time, a fairy fell in love with a woodchopper. But, it’s impossible for the woodchopper to reach the paradise to meet the fairy. Then, the fairy threw down her band of the skirt and made the bridge to lead her lover. A poet of the Song D ynasty, Tian Jun wrote a poem for the bridge “Clouds mist on it; river roars under it; Boat stop here and ask; why can’t see fairies, but the empty bridge.” The statue of flying fairy was built to memory this lovely fairy.

Huangniu Gorge (the Bull’s Gorge)

Sailing 10 km upstream to the west, we will see a row of mountain crest in the south bank. 9 strips of green ridges droop downward sinuously, just liking 9 dragons rushing down to the river. The mountain crest is the Huangniu Cliff (the Bull’s Cliff), the valley under is the Huangniu Gorge (the Bull’s Gorge).

The watercourse though the Huangniu Gorge zigzags like the intestine, and is full of interlaced submerged reefs. The river water swirls like the boiling water to make the sailing dangerous. “Morning s et off in Huangniu, night anchor in Huangniu, 3 days and 3 nights are not enough for passing through Huangniu, days and nights, endless sailing drives hair grizzle.” An ancient ballad is the best description about the hard shipping condition in this part.

Why the gorge here was name “Huangniu (the Bull)”? It came from an ancient story about Xia Yu’s contribution to flood controlling. It’s said that the God sent Xia Yu to the human world to dredge the river and prevent the flood. When he led people to excavate the river and reach here, the God sent a magic bull to help him. One day morning, a woman came here to sent water and food to workers. When she reached the river, she happened to see a giant and strong bull colliding the mountains. The mountain collapsed and the earth quaked like thunder storm. Her screaming stampeded the bull and made it jump off the mountain, but left its image in the mountain walls. The Chinese ancient strategist, Mr. Zhuge Liang had a sentence of description in his “Travel Notes in

H uangling Temple”: “when I pored over the mountain walls across the river, I found magic head portrait image with vivid hair and eyebrows, remarkably true to life. A flag in the front, and a bull on the right side, just like someone painted it here.” Of cou rse, the story was the people’s beautiful imagination about conquering the nature. And, the “Bull” is the best indication standing for human’s greatest power in conquering the world. In order to memory the bull’s contribution, ancient people built a temple here to fete it.

As a matter of fact, the giant painting is the wall is the particular in Three Gorges. About 400 million years ago, here is still ocean. And 200 million years ago, the granite magma from earth interior movement formed the now Huangniu Mountain and Zhongbao Island. The granite here contains kinds of pigments, showing different colors. White is the main color for Huangniu Mountain, and decorating with some black, therefore forms the big wall paintings. A Chinese ancient poet Li Daoyuan said: “the image at the highest of the rock wall looks like a man lowing a bull, back man and yellow bull”. This vivid natural

image has attracted countless tourists of all ages, and fingered out of the world most particular.

Zhongbao Island-the Site of the Three Gorges Dam

After ship passes the Xiling Yangtze Bridge, we will reach the dam site of the Three Gorges Project. Years ago, it was a rectangle shaped island called “Zhongbao Island”, with an area of about 0.15 km2. Former premier, Mr. Zhou Enlai chose it from several schemes and set it as the dam site.

As a magic island, it has never been submerged in histories, no matter how heavy the floods were. According to the records, the heaviest flood happened in 1870 did not cover this island even the Huangling Temple in a higher place was submerged. Up till now, there is not any convincible explanation on the phenomenon of “the island goes up along the rising river”

However, the island is disappeared since the Project was under construction.

We are now going thr ough the “Open Channel of Headrace”. It’s about 3410 m in length, with the width of 350 m, sharing 1/3 of the total width of the Yangtze River here. It’s one of the main constructions of the first phase of the Three Gorges Project. Since June of 2003, ships began to pass the dam through the double-line 5-stage ship locks (for ships over 10 thousand ton). The huge construction at the right side is the Three Gorges Dam. It’s the concrete gravity dam, with a height of 185 m. And the total length of the dam top is 2309 m. The normal water level of the reservoir will be 175 m. The total capacity of the generators installed is 18.20 million kW, while the total annual capacity will be more than 84.7 billion kWh. Ladies and gentlemen, at our left side, we can see th e “first city of Three Gorges Immigrants”, the new town site of Zigui County.

High Gorge Mountains and the Reservoir Lake

The high gorge mountains and the reservoir lake are the new imposing scenic spots brought to the Yangtze Three Gorges by the construction of the Three Gorges Project. From June 1 to 15, 2003, when the initial water reserve completed, the water level in the upstream of the dam increased to 135 m, much higher than the 98 m level before May 31. The reservoir capacity increased from 2.3 billion to 12.3 billion cubic meters. At 22:00 of September 20, 2006, the reservoir began to raise water level from 135.5 m to 156 m, with extra reservoir capacity of 11 billion cubic meters. At that time, the Three Gorges went on to initial operation period from the cofferdam period, with comprehensive functions on flood control, electricity generation and ship traffic. Here, Yichang, will begin to show you the scenery of the reservoir lake in the high mountains. And here will be the right place to bring you the best view of the reservoir and the mountains. The reservoir will force water to flow back to the place where Fengdu Count located, forming a 436 km long reservoir in the watercourse in the upstream of the dam. The width of the river in many broad valleys will increase to about 3000 m from 1000 m before the water reserve. The Yangtze River

will offer you a new face with the smooth reservoir lake instead of the former torrential flow. Lots of hidden scenic spots will show their charms to the tourists. Those new added sceneries like valleys, lakes, islands, watercourses, and water-eroded caves will combine with the previous gorge views to form new contents for your trip to new Three Gorges. According to the incomplete statistics, after the initial water reserve, new lakes and islands will come into being, such as the Zigui Lake, the Baidi Lake, the Baidi Island, the Shuangjiang Island (the Dual River Island), and the Hulu Island (the Calabash Island) etc. Vast and immensurable, nature abounds in changes, the beautiful lakes and mountains will paint a new magnificent scene in the new Three Gorges.

Recently, more sightseeing platforms have been built around the Three Gorges Project dam area, such as the Tanzi Ling (Peak Crock), the Extreme Top on the Huangniu Ro ck (the Bull’s Rock), the first mountain top at the head of the reservoir-the Phoenix Mountain, the Nv’er Ling (the Daughter’s Mountain Top) and etc. All these viewing points provide you the all time, multi view, different height, and omnidirectional sightseeing experience of the dam, the reservoir lake and the high mountains.

Kongling Gorge

When leaving the Three Gorges dam 10 km behind, we’ll reach a steep gorge, the Kongling Gorge. The cloud-capped mountains in the gorge look like sharpened by knives and axes. This gorge is also called “the Kongleng Gorge (empty and cold gorge)”, “the Tongling Gorge (Through Mountains Gorge)”. It’s about 2.5 km in length. According to records in ancient books, ships had to be emptied to ensure its safe sailing in the torrent here. In the middle of this narrow watercourse, there’s a shoal full of many dangerous submerged reefs, called “the Kongling Shoal”. Ancient people said “the Qing Shoal and the Xie Shoal are not the real shoal, only the Kongling is the gate to the hell”. Many years ago, there was a big rock in the middle of the water, showing the warning words “Come towards me”. When getting here, ships must go straight ahead towards the Rock; with the help of backstroke water bounced by the rock, ship would skim rock and pass through in safety. But, if you ignored the warning, and intended to steer away from the big rock, the water would certainly rush you to the rock causing accident. In 1900, a foreign ship crashed here because the captain had no sense on this warning, and even ignored the advice from the guide. After the liberation in 1949, the big rock was destroyed. Later, the successful launch of Gezhouba Hydropower Project raised the water and deeply merged those dangerous shoals. Although we lose the experience of the nervous and excite sailing here, we obtain the safe transportation.

Niugan Mafei Gorge (Gorge of Bull’s Lever & Horse’s Lung)

Out of the Kongling Gorge, we will reach the Niugan Mafei Gorge in a short while. The gorge is about 4.5 km in length. In the conflux of Jiuwan River (explored for driftage) and the Yangtze River, there were several brown rocks overlapped in the cliff on the mountain in the north bank. They looked like the Bull’s lever. Beside them, there was another lung shaped big stone calle d “the Horse’s Lung”. Because these funny rocks, the

gorge was named as Gorge of Bull’s Lever & Horse’s Lung (the Niugan Mafei Gorge). Actually, these rocks were made of calcium carbonate by the groundwater.

As years past by, the Niugan Rock is still intact, while the Mafei Rock has lost its under part. It was shot by British warship in 1900 when China was still governed by the Qing Dynasty. Today, it is still telling the crimes done by the old British imperialism.

However, the Mafei rock has been submerged by the raised water. And the Niugan rock was cut and removed to the Phoenix Mountain in the new city of Zigui County by local tourism bureau. Though we cannot see the two rocks anymore in the gorge, there still are other sceneries as the same.

Bingshu Baojian Gorge (Gorge of the Tactics Book & Sword)

When our ship passes the Xin Tan (New Shoal), we will reach Bingshu Baojian Gorge. In the rock gaps of the mountain cliff in the north bank, there’s something looking like a roll of bamboo book. It was said it’s the tactics book of Mr Zhuge Liang (an ancient Chinese famous strategist). Under the tactics book, there outshoot a sword shape rock which is thick on the top and sharp in the bottom, pointing to the river. That is the Sword Rock.

According to the field research done by the archaeologists, the “tactics book” is actually the remains of the ancient hanging coffin, while the “sword” is an outshoot limestone.

There are also two legends going along with this gorge. One is about Mr. Zhuge Liang. It’s said that Zhuge Liang wrote a book on military experience of his whole life. One day, when he got a serious disease, he found there was nobody standing around him could inherit the book. In order to avoid the doctrinaires’ improper use of his theories, he chose the steep place to store it because he thought only those who can get it could take right and full advantage of his book. Another legend happened when the Chuhan Campaign broke out at the end of the Qin Dynasty. Zhang Liang, a smart advisor of the King Liubang, defeated the elite troops of the King Xiangyu, and took over the Chu. After Zhang Liang’s death, his tactics book and sword were hidden here.

Before the water raise in the reservoir, the Tourism Bureau of Zigui County organized a special force to save t he legendary “tactics book”. Actually, there were remains of hanging coffin and many national secured relics. Now, all these things have been preserved on the Phoenix Mountain for tourists visiting.

Celebrities’ Native Place in Xiangxi

Soon later we will reach the broad valley of Xiangxi. Along the clear and green river of Xiangxi, there once lived two famous Chinese celebrities. One is the great poet, Qu Yuan of the Chu State, and the other is the beauty Wang Zhaojun of the Han Dynasty. It’s said, one day, when Wang Zhaojun was washing her face by the river, she accidentally lost the

pearls in her necklace into the Xiangxi River. From then on, the water in this river became clear and fragrant, and got its name “Xiangxi” (the Fragrant River). Like a splendid belt, Xiangxi River makes a shortcut into the Shennongjia virgin forest. After the completion of the Three Gorges dam reservoir, our ship can sail directly from the Yangtze River to Zhaojun’s Village. While in the half way, we can stop at the Leping Li, t he birthplace of Qu Yuan.

Leping Li, the hometown of Qu Yuan, is right situated by the riverside of the Xiangxi River. There, we can find many interesting places and legend sites about Qu Yuan, such as the Xianglu Ping, the Zhaomian Well, the Dushu Cave, and the Yumi Sanqiu etc. Qu Yuan was an honest, selflessness poet as well as a politician with foresight and sagacity. He was much concerned about the nation and the people, and left many famous poems such as “Li Sao”.

The Baoping Village of the Xiangshan County in the upstream of the Xiangxi River is the hometown of Wang Zhaojun, the famous imperial concubine in the ancient Han Dynasty. She married the King of the Hu people in the far western region to exchange long term peace situation. In recent years, her native houses were rebuilt by the local government. At the gate of her house, there stands her white marble statue presented by the Inner Mongolia, with a theme “Wang Zhaojun is living along the thousands years history, just as long peace between the Hu and Han peoples”.

The water reserved by the Three Gorge Project also raised the water level in the Xiangxi River. The width of the river was broadened to over 100 m from the former about 10 m. The Xiangxi River, right now, is the short cut linking the new Three Gorges and the Shennongjia. Ships with capacity of thousand tonnages from the Yangtze River can reach the Xiakou Dock of the Xiangshan County through the Xiangxi River. Landing in the dock, you will find that the Shennongjia is just less than an hou r’s drive away. Also, the convenient transportation enables a better accession to the hometowns of Qu Yuan and Wang Zhaojun.

Wu Gorge

After a little while, the ship will finish its sailing in smooth water of the broad valley and carry us to the Wu Gorge, w hich got the name from the Wu Mountain. It’s about 71 km from Guandu Kou in Badong County in the east to the mouth of Daxi Town in the west. The gorge valley is about 44 km in length, and 27 km in width. In both banks of the gorges, the green mountains wave look like the Chinese folding screens. Traveling in the devious watercourse in the deep and beautiful gorges seems like sailing in a natural gallery. Because the Wu Gorge is deep enough and receives less sunshine, the moisture in gorge could not be easily vaporized. The moisture flows and agglomerates to be fogs and clouds. The gauzelike fogs and clouds sometimes fly like dragons, sometimes like yarns. When the beams of sunshine penetrate the clouds apertures, it will bring us the brilliant view called “the Wu Gorge Buddhist Light” by the local people. Therefore, the ancient people

left beautiful poems, such as “the water is the water only in the sea; the cloud is the cloud only in the Wu Gorge”.

Shennong Xi River in Badong

Leaving the Badong Town, we will find another branch of the Yangtze River in the north bank, the Shennong Xi River. In recent years, its driftage has attracted more and more tourists. This river originates in the mountains of the Shennong Jia Mountain. The water is so clear that it almost let your eyesight reach the river bed. The mountains along the river are great as those of the Three Gorges. After the Three Gorges Project reserved water, there’s a lake formed in the middle stream of Shengnon Xi River. We can enjoy the colorful sightseeing, and get to Luoping, where is the start place of our journey drifting the Shennong Xi River. Sitting in a boat shaped like peasecod, we can raft down the clean stream and pass the Shennong Gorge and Mianzhu Gorge to experience the primal wild feeling. In the river, the fragrant fresh air, the birds’s singing, and the ballads sang by the boatmen tell you that you are far from the modern civilization already. After the driftage, we will soon back to the Yangtze Three Gorges.

Twelve Peaks among the Wu Mountains

When sailing in the Wu Gorge, the tourists always can’t help outlooking the famous twelve peaks among the Wu Mountains. The limy twelve peaks both in north and south banks are standing thousands of meters high above the water. Their spectacular wonderful shapes are various. Some looks like men flying into the sky; some looks like phoenixes spreading wings; some looks like folding screen showing paintings; and some look like immortals having meetings…

Among the six coherent peaks waving in the north bank, the first one we can see is the Jixian Peak (the Immortals Gathering Peak), which is also called “the Scissor Peak”. In the wall of the mountain under the peak, six big characters loom through the fog, which means “serried ridges and peaks in the Wu Gorge”. Beside the big ones, there are some small characters engraved, but we can hardly see them clearly for years of efflorescence. The rock engraved these small characters is also named “the Kongming Stele” because people said these small characters are the well known article “Longzhong Dui” written by the famous ancient strategist Zhuge Liang (Kongming as birth name). Besides, the other five peaks are Songluan (Maohe Peak), Shennv (Wangxia Peak), Zhaoyun, Shengquan, and Denglong.

The rest six peaks are standing in the south bank. But, only the Feifeng Peak, the Cuiping Peak, and the Juhe Peak can be viewed from the Yangtze River. if you want to see the other three peaks including the Jingtan Peak, the Qiyun Peak and the Shangsheng Peak, you have to go upstream about 15 km along the Shennv River, a branch of the Yangtze. Therefore, Lu You, a famous poet of the Song Dynasty, wrote a poem and said “Only 9 can be seen among the 12 peaks in the Wu Mountains”.

Among these 12 peaks, the most beautiful and upright one is the Shennv Peak (the Saint Girl Peak). When ship heads the peak, we can look up and find a towering rock. It looks like a slim graceful girl, and got the name of the “Saint Girt Peak”. A legend coming down tells us the story. It’s said that once u pon a time, the youngest daughter of the Western Queen Mother, Yao Ji, happened to meet several dragons raising devils here. So she killed them and rescued humans. Later, she sent Da Yu to excavate the Three Gorges and dredge up the river. In order to keep the sailing safe here, she stood into the peak permanently to guide the sail. Day and night, she was the first one here to welcome the rising sun and send off the sunset. Actually, the legend expresses the dream of the ancient people wishing a safe and sound sail here.

Daning River and Little Three Gorges

Next stop after the twelve peaks of the Wu Mountains is the Daning River. Its headwater is the Zhongnan Mountain of the Pingli County in Shanxi Province. After passing through countless valleys and canyons of Wuxi and the Wu Mountain in Chongqing, it reaches the Yangtze in the east corner of Wushan County. Along the Daning River, there are another three gorges as the Longmen Gorge, the Bawu Gorge and the Dicui Gorge, making the “Little Three Gorges”. Compa red to the great Three Gorges, the little one is more beautiful and fascinating. People describe it as “Three Gorges top of the world, Little Three Gorges top of the Three Gorges”. The water raised by the Three Gorges Project reservoir has some impact on the scenery of Little Three Gorges, but improves the navigation condition in the Madu River and Mini Three Gorges.

Madu River is an anabranch of the Daning River. Along this river, there’s the Mini Three Gorges. The 20 km Mini one consists of Madu Gorge, Qinwang Gorge and Xiniu Gorge (the Rhinoceros Gorge). All the three gorges own their spectacular sceneries, in which the Madu Gorge is known for countless strange rocks and peaks; the Qinwang Gorge is know for caves and springs; and the Xiniu Gorge is famous for a rock of rhinoceros shape.

Qutang Gorge

Next to the Wu Gorge, after the ship finishes its journey in the 27-km broad valley in Daning River, we will reach the Qutang Gorge, which is well known for its magnificence. From Daxi Town in the east to the Baidi Castle in the west, the 8 km gorge is the shortest one in Three Gorges. But, the importance of “controlling Sichuan and linking Hubei” strengthens its status. As another gallery of natural sceneries and folk cultures, we can easily find many well known tour sites along our trip upstream, such as the Feng Xiang Gorge (the Bellows Gorge), the Fenghuang Yinquan (the Spring for Phoenix’s Drink), the Mengliang Ti (the Mengliang’s Ladder), the Daodiao Heshang (Upside Down Hanging Monk), the Guimen Guan (the Kuimen Col), the Fenbi Wall (the Pink Walls) and etc.

Fengxiang Gorge (the Bellows Gorge)

The moment when we enter the Qutang Gorge, on the bluff in the north bank, we can see three big white Chinese characters “Fengxiang Gorge”. No doubt, here we are. Actually, the Fengxiang Gorge is just an arduous cliff. On the cliff, some gaps are found. In a bigger gap, there are a pile of quadrate wood boxes which look like bellows. Then, the gorge got its name. It’s said that the bellows here were left by the Chinese ancient famous carpenter, Lu Ban. In 1971, 3 herb collectors climbed up there and found those box coffins left by the ancient Ba People about 2000 years ago.

Fenghuang Yinquan (the Spring for Phoenix’s Drink), Mengliang Ti (Mengliang’s Ladder), Daodiao Heshang (Upside Down Hanging Monk)

Soon later, on the cliff in the south bank, there used to be two-storey pavilion built on the rock. The place where the pavilion located was the Fenghuang Yinquan (Spring for Phoenix’s Drink). There, a 20-meter high and 6-meter wide giant rock pillar was effusing the spring water. Seen from far away, it looked like a phoenix drinking water at the spring.

The upstream of the Fenghuang Yinquan is the famous Mengliang Ti (Mengliang’s Ladder). It’s a row of quadrate holes cut in the rock. They were one by one, row by row, zigzagging from low to high and reaching the top of the mountain.

Closely next to the Mengliang Ti on the rock, there used to pop out a strange rock, which looked like a Monk hanging upside down here. So, people called it the Upside Down Hanging Monk. Absolutely, there was a story behind the scenery. It’s said that there was a famous general named “Yang Ye” in the North Song Dynasty. When he was killed in a battle, his body was buried on a small platform named th e “Homesick Platform” popping out from the mountainside of the Baiyan Mountain. In order to save the skeleton of Yang Ye, one of his subordinates, named Mengliang, drove a boat into the Qutang Gorge quietly at night. He cut some holes on the bluff and inserted iron puncheons to make ladders for climbing. When he climbed the half way, a monk found him. The monk pretended to mimic the crow and made Mengliang misunderstood the dawn’s coming. To avoid being found by the guards, he gave up the action and failed in the project. When Mengliang found he was cheated, with greatest anger, he hung the monk upside down on the rock. Of course, this is just a fictitious story. In fact, as the heritage left by ancient ordinary people, these holes were cut to build plank road along the cliff. And the Upside Down Hanging Monk is just a common stalactite.

Nowadays, the water reserved by the Three Gorges Project has submerged the Fenghuang Yinquan and the Upside Down Hanging Monk, and the Mengliang’s Ladder has been moved to a higher place.

Kuimen Col, Fenbi Tang (the Hall of the Prink Walls)

The width of the Yangtze at the Qutang Gorge mouth narrows to less than 100 meters. Cliffs and bluffs in both banks are sharp enough as if they were just cut by swords. On a square place on the mountain, 5 big characters were engraved to tell you that

“Kuimen Col stands grand in the world”. Ladies and gentlemen, here we are at the Kuimen Col, the west gate of the great Three Gorges. The highlands on both sides of Kuimen were named respective ly as the “Baiyan Mountain (White Salt Mountain)” in the south and the “Chijia Mountain (Red Coat Mountain)” in the north. Two great mountains stand here face to face, straightly, lofty, and sharply, almost like the greatest gate set by the nature. It’s ju st here that the cliffs are high to over 500 m; the river is just narrow to 100 m; but the river speed is over 50,000 cubic meters per second. Because the rocks on the Chijia Mountains are covered by the ferric oxide liquor, it looks like being in red from far away. That’ the reason as called the “Red Coat Mountain”. The Baiyan Mountain which means “White Salt Mountain” looks like being in white because the rocks are covered by salt-like white calcium liquid. Looking at each other under the sunshine from the other side of the river, one in red and the other in white, we will find what magnificent scenery it is!

On the bluff and cliffs of both banks, there were many steles left during the past dynasties, where it looked like a Chinese traditional hall. As a result, people called here the Hall of Pink Walls. However, the reserved water has submerged lots of these steles, with only some most valuable ones protected by rebuilt and moved to a higher place. And the most precious “Thousand Characters Stele” made in the South Song Dynasty was cut and moved to the museum.

Baidi Castle (White King Castle)

Next to the Kuimen Col is the terminal of the Three Gorges, the Baidi Castle. Situated in the north bank of the Yangtze, the Baidi Castle is also called “the Castle of Poet” in histories. This castle, originally named “the Ziyang Castle”, was built by Gongsun Shu of the Xinmang Period when he set up a separatist regime by force of arms in Sichuan. It’s said that a well in the castle spayed white vapor, and the vapor flied over like a white dragon to the sky, and Gongsun Shu lorded himself “the White King” (Baidi), and renamed the city as “Baidi Castle”. After Gongsun Shu was killed by Liu Xiu, the Emperor Guangwu of the East Han Dynasty, there built a temple named “Baidi Temple”. However, the real story made this place famous around the world is another one happened in the Three Kingdoms period. The King of Shu, Liu Bei entrusted his son to the care of the primer minister before death. Now, the reserved water will make the castle surrounded by the water, and then you can imagine and experience such magical scenery.

摘自https://www.360docs.net/doc/d0660796.html,/art/2011/10/18/art_27985_331471.html