Yangtze River Cruise

Yangtze River Cruise. The Yangtze River is the longest river in China and the third longest river in the world. It rises in Tibet and flows for 2300 kilometres through China down to near Shanghai. It is called the Chang Jiang River by the Chinese which means Long River. There are many small rivers and streams that flow into the Yangtze and every year there used to be terrible floods which cost the Chinese hundreds in human lives due to the sever flooding. One of the most picturesque landscapes is around the area known as the three gorges called the Qutang Gorge, Wu Gorge and Xiliong Gorge with very high cliffs on either side. Along the side ...  Read the complete review

In the grey murk of a March morning, the city of Chongqing viewed from the riverbed is not a pretty sight. Even its inhabitants do not pretend Chongqing is a pretty sight. Rather, they take a perverse pride in its grimness, in common with the denizens of grim cities everywhere. Standing on the upper deck of the cruiseship Victoria 1, my wife and I watch the last passengers arrive. This early in the year the river is low. Perhaps fifty metres of mud, over which a temporary walkway has been laid, separate the ship’s mooring from the quay. Raggedly-clad porters (“stick-soldiers” as they are known, from the sticks they use to sling loads across their shoulders) ...  Read the complete review