Good morning, ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome to China! Welcome to Hubei Province!
Today I am very pleased to show you Three Gorges of Yangtze River.
At first I’ll have a brief introduction of Yangtze River, the Yangtze River, the biggest river in China, the third longest in the World, starts with the Tuotuo River at the Roof of the World -Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, takes in countless rivers, and flows eastward across the interior of China. With an overall length of more than 6,300 kilometers, the Yangtze River, next only to the Amazon and the Nile, is the third biggest river in the world and is a cradle that breeds the ancient civilization of the Chinese nation.
When the Yangtze River reaches the eastern Sichuan Basin in southwest China, it cuts through the Wushan Mountain. Here the river course suddenly narrows and the waters become turbulent. Sheer cliffs and steep mountains rise on either side, creating one of nature's most fantastic sights. The Three Gorges---Qutang, wuxia and xiling----start just after Fengjie and end near Yichang, stretch about 200 kilometers. The Gorges vary from 300metres at their widest to less than 100 meters at their narrowest.
Qutang Gorge is the smallest and shortest Gorge, but grandest of the three. The Yangtze River, mighty and rapid here is suddenly contained like "a thousand seas poured into one cup", as the Song Dynasty poet SU Tungpo described the spectacle. High on the both bank, at a place called Bellows Gorge, are a series of crevices. This area is said to have been the home of an ancient tribe whose custom was to place the coffins of their crevices, some containing bronze swords, armour and other artifacts, but the coffins are believed to date back as far as the Warring States Period (475bc----221BC)
Wu Gorge extends 40 kilometers along which the river snakes between based strange-shaped mountain peaks, each of which has a reputation based on a beautiful legend. The story of the "12 Peaks of Wushan goes like this: 12 nymphs once descended to enjoy themselves in the secular world. Finding how perilous Wushan Gorge was, they decided to stay there to protect ships. As time went by, they transformed themselves into 12 peaks. The Goddess Peak, the most graceful of the 12, is said to have been yaoji, the youngest daughter of the Queen mother of the Western Heaven .Goddess Peak stands out from the other peaks on the northern bank to be the first to greet the morning sun and the last to bid it farewell, hence its another name, Viewing the glow Peak. Seen at a distance, it resembles the silhouette of a beautiful young lady.
