The Yangtze River, Cruising Down The Chinese Water Highway

The Chinese flag flying over the great Yangtze River

Over the last decade the Yangtze River has been flooded for the purpose of the Three Gorges Dam, in turn taking out countless villages and towns, losing numerous cultural and historical sites. Some people say that the river cruise, which used to be one of Chinas tourism highlights has been ruined forever. The local people who have been evicted from their land are generally annoyed, and loads of officials have been stealing the poor peoples land compensation making it a rather large debacle. These were all great reasons why I wanted to go on the cruise. To be right there in a moment of great historical change.

The sun reflects on the Yangtze River

The cruise ship reflects the steep gorge walls

Being a backpacker with little money, I took the option of going on a Chinese tour rather than an expensive English one. The result was that I was one of about four English speaking people on the whole boat and basically didn't really see those other English people at all. Next I'd chosen to skip going to all the relocated temples because they basically are only a year or so old after being moved, so have lost their historical appeal. Finally I shelled out on a side cruise up the Lesser Three Gorges because they were supposedly more scenic than the main gorges. The total cost of this was around 700 Yuan (~NZ$180), which spread out over three days was a little more than my day to day budget, but was something a little different so totally worth it.

Hooray for Chinese tours

Inside The Lesser Three Gorges, with its vertical walls

The first night was spent riding a bus to the cruise ship four hours out of Chongqing, hoping on the boat and finding my bed. When I found my room, I walked in and placed my gear on my bed, then feeling rather hungry went to open up some food for dinner. In my third class room was another 5 Chinese people, one then took the liberty of yelling at me in Chinese and tieing up my bag of food so I couldn't have any. Rather confused and unable to communicate at all with him, I pointed to the food, rubbed my belly and rose an eyebrow. Not really sure what was going on, I didn't want to cause some big scene so went outside and stood on the deck looking out over the river. But soon enough hunger over took me so I went back in to try getting something to eat again. Same result! I was thinking that maybe there was going to be dinner served soon or something so I shouldn't be eating now, or maybe it was against usual customs to eat before the boat had got going? Confused I went and stood back at my viewing spot outside my room. It wasn't for another hour or so until the ships tour guide, who spoke a little English, came along to tell us about the nights itinerary. She quickly settled the dispute. Supposedly the old man hadn't seen me come in and place my bags on the bed, and being the racist person he was didn't expect to be sleeping with any foreigners down in third class. So when I had opened up my food bag he had assumed I had just walked into the room and tried to eat some poor mans loot. Rather hungry and angry by now I reluctantly smiled as he profusely apologised after finding out I was legitimately meant to be eating my food which was placed on my bed. Wanting to punch him in the face I made myself some noodles and calmed down after filling my stomach.

My third class room, with bathroom through back door. Go number 2310!

Layers of mountain ridges glow under a low sun

Soon fireworks were lit to send us on our way and the rest of the night was spent watching Chinese TV and making friends with the rest of my cabin friends through the two or three words one of them could write in English.

The new temples have lots of neon, just like an old traditional one

Old meets new, with a swallowed bridge being replaced by a new super bridge

The next morning at the crack of a 5am dawn we were woken to be introduced to the first of the three gorges. A spectacular sight even after flooding it. I enjoyed it for a short time before I fell asleep again to wake up at a normal rising time. Later that day the lesser three gorges tour took place. This was an exciting little trip up a smaller river through a narrow set of gorges with vertical walls running right down to the water, monkeys running about in the surrounding jungle, and a forced ride on some little raft which was enjoyed until I was made to pay 10 yuan for it.

Going through The Lesser Three Gorges

The Wuxia Gorge dwarfs a distant cargo ship

Later that night, we cruised through the next gorge, the Wuxia Gorge, another stunning natural wonder where the water has cut through the mountains over millions of years giving life to one of the most populous places on earth. Another night was spent in the third class cramped cabin, waking up in the morning we were getting ever closer to the dam. From here, just above the dam in the Xililng Gorge, the evidence for the destruction of the environment was getting clearer; signs pointing out the change in river depth were showing a 175m rise in the river level. The murky water could not stop my imagination from thinking about what had been buried underneath, but at the same time brought marvel at the capabilities of man to harness nature's power.

The river is only metres from being at its full 175m rise

The hazy sun sets over Wuxia Gorge

Sediment build up above the dam, environmental concern?

The cruise concluded with a tour of the three gorges dam. Disappointingly, the mist was so thick that I could only see halfway across the dam, therefore I had to make sure I got round to the other side of the river to see the other half. This viewing did not justify the additional cost of the tour of the dam, but was something that had to be done and would be good on a fine day. As annoying as the mist was, I was still well impressed by the grandeur of this monumental construction project and could almost believe the myth that the development has created a lake so large that it has shifted the earth from its rotational axis.

My viewing point from on the cruise ship

The Three Gorges Dam, in all its misty glory

The whole cruise ended with being dropped off at a bus stop in a random town. Not knowing where I was, I asked my new Chinese friends, ex-cabin mates, where the bus to Wuhan was. My hesitation meant I hoped on an all-ready full bus and was forced to wait for the next bus. Unfortunately, this did not leave for another hour and a half, which was about 6pm, and proceeded a five hour bus ride. Arriving in Wuhan, I only had a small hostel brochure that had a map of the surrounding three blocks of the hostel and that was all the information I had on the entire city. Rather worried that I may end up getting lost in a huge unknown city in the middle of the night I was fortunate enough to be going to the same hostel as a Spanish man on the bus. Together we asked, through a difficult language barrier, the Chinese bus driver where the hostel was. He was kind enough to take us off the main highway and on to a street on the corner of the little map on the hostel brochure. Arriving at a hostel at midnight is never fun, especially with no booking, but resting in bed, I was thankful it all worked out.

The locks running alongside the dam

A paradox: the widened river is meant to reduce carbon emissions from trucks winding round highways, but the boats cargo is coal...

In reflection of seeing the Three Gorges Dam I am left to ask myself was this right to build such a project, especially seeing I studied electrical engineering at university. There is a range of possible solutions to the problem, the alternatives that were available at the time of projects beginning were to build fossil fuel power stations or a nuclear plant. Neither of these are any good for the planet, so the dam is probably the best option as is using renewable energy. But the real problem is much larger than what kind of power plant to build. Fundamentally over population mixed with modernisation is causing the need for such projects. At this point in China's history, population growth has saturated the land available, and people are only now beginning to see the plight of modernising without caring for the environment. So the real question is how to solve the issues at the root?