The Three Yangtze Gorges stretch from Baidicheng in Fengjie County,Chongqiang Municipality eastward for l 92 kilometers to Nanjinguan in Yichang City, Hubei Province. However, it is not a single entity and most sections are separated by broad valleys. The aggregate length of the gorge sections-the Qutang, Wuxia and Xiling gorges-is 90 kilometers.

The westernmost of these, the Qutang Gorge, extends for about 8 kilometers between Baidicheng and Daxi. Though the shortest, it is the most spectacular of the three. The Chijia and Baiyan mountains face each other from opposite sides of the Yangtze.

At its narrowest point the riverbed is just a few dozen meters wide, but the valley is over l,000 meters deep. These land features make the Kuimen Gate, the upstream entrance to the Three Gorges, like the "throat" of Sichuan Province. The middle gorge-the Wuxia Gorge-is 45 kilometers in length from the Daning River in the west to Guangdukou in the east. This is the longest and most complete of the three and is often called the "Great Gorge."

It is renowned for its remote and peaceful landscape beauty and for its changing clouds and rain. The l2 Deaks of the Wushan Mountains that flank the Yangtze stand like a continuous screen-a landscape to stir the spirit. Strictly speaking, the easternmost Xiling Gorge consists of two sections: the westerly one stretches l5 kilometers from the Bingshubaojian(Military

Books and Precious Sword)Gorge at Xiangxi(Fragrant Stream), via the Niuganmafei(Ox Liver and Horse Lungs)Gorge, and ends in the Kongling Gorge at the Miaohe River; the easterly one extends 20 kilometers from the Dengying(Lantern Shadow)Gorge at Nantuo to the Huangmao(Yellow Cat)Gorge at Nanjinguan. Between the two lies the Miaonan Wide Valley, the longest valley in the Three Gorges area. The world-famous Three Gorges Dam stands at Sandouping, at the point in this valley where Yangtze is at its widest.

The Three Gorges came about as the result of China's physical geography. Thousands of streams and rivers on the Sichuan Basin seek to empty into the ocean in the east, but between the second and third steps of China's geological staircase they are impeded by the Qiyao and the Xuefeng mountains. However, this threshold of undulating, folding mountains cannot resist the tender toughness of the river-ultimately the Yangtze fights its way through, out to the ocean and the world beyond.

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