Yangtze River Cruise

Dazu Rock Carvings is located in Dazu County, Chongqing. With remote surroundings, driving 2.5-3 hours from Chongqing any bus station, this place has never been normal for thousands of tourists want to unveil it’s truly beauty and a totally must-see for Chinese Cultural lovers, after it has been regard as World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999.

Dazu Rock Carvings contains 75 cliff statues including 50,000 sculptures and inscriptions about 100,000 words. The colorful, details and quantity and scaleof these absolutely huge rock carvings mixed with Buddhist, Taoist and Confucianist are not just sculptures, they are more about history, religion and art.
Date back to 7th century A.D., the Baodingshan and Beishan grottos are most remarkable and well preserved, presenting you various characters and vivid tableaus heard from head set spreading by little mini microphones of specialist tour guides.

The most fun and scary part is to listen to the awe stories of depicted hells, including "knife mountain", "boiling oil, "coal eyes" and "knee chopping" with the versions of sculptures. Also the inspiring female Buddha of 1000 hands and the large reclining Buddha, the heavens and the 18 hells are definitely feast your eyes.


Notes:
(1)Ticket price: (Peak Season: March-November; Low Season: December- next February)
Baodingshan Rock Carvings: RMB 120/90
Beishan Rock Carvings: RMB 90/70
Or you can buy the coupon ticket within both sites: RMB 170/120(valid in 2 days)
(2) The tour guide fee is RMB 200 if you want to hire. Totally worth!
(3) The site has many steep steps and uneven corridors. Be aware the slippery during the rainy season.

Yangtze River Cruise Tour

Yangtze River is full of natural resources and beautiful landscapes. Therefore it becomes a heat for River Cruise destination. Generally, the Yangtze River is divided into three sections: the upstream (from Yibin to Yichang), the middle part (from Yichang to Hukou), and the downstream (from Hukou to Shanghai).  
 
Normally, the part from Chongqing to Shanghai is the most classical Yangtze River Cruise Tour, which includes Chongqing-Yichang, Chongqing-Wuhan and Chongqing-Shanghai Yangtze Cruise Routes sections. Yichang where the spectacular Yangtze Three Gorges Dam located, makes Chongqing-Yichang more welcomed. Also the Chongqing-Wuhan, Chongqing-Shanghai sections are quite popular for Cruising relax. Normally Chongqing was choose to be the beginning of Yangtze Cruise, while if you prefer Shanghai as embark city, we provide this offer too, as well as Yangtze Tours from Beijing, Hongkong and Chengdu.

Tributaries of Yangtze River

Yangtze River with over 6380 km long all runs through in China, covering one third square of China. The reason why large water drainage is that over 700 tributaries run into Yangtze River. Among them, there are 4 main tributaries through Sichuan and Chongqing flowing to Yangtze: Min River, Tuo River, Jialing River and Wu River.

Min River once was regard as the source of Yangtze, now turns out to be one of mainstreams. With 1279 long all in Sichuan province, Min River originated from Min Mountain, runs through Dujiangyan City and Leshan City, then joins Yangtze in Yibin City, Sichuan.The highlights along Min River are:
Dujiangyan Irrigation System, Mount Qingcheng, Leshan Giant Buddha, Mount Emei

Dujiangyan Irrigation System panoramic views

Tuo River a big river connects most industrial cities in Sichuan, like Chengdu, Deyang, Zigong, Luzhou, where the junction place with Yangtze River, etc. With total length of 712 km, the drainage area of Tuo River is 3.29 square kilometers, where has large quantities of cotton, sugarcane production areas.

Jialing River runs stretches 1120 kilometers and flows south and east crossing Shannxi, Gansu, Sichuan province, and falls into Yangtze River in the city of Chongqing. You can watch the 2 rivers junction with clean water meets brownish water in Chongqing Chaotianmen. After absorbing the water of Jialing, Yangtze continues its path and through the Three Gorges, stretching miles away.

Chongqing Chaotianmen

Wu River is the largest tributary of southern upstream of Yangtze River, running source from Guizhou province, so it also called the first River in Guizhou. With mainstream of 1037 km, Wu River joining the Yangtze at Fuling District, Chongqing, where is famous for the Fuling Zhacai (Fuling Pickle).

For hundreds of years, people spared no efforts to chase the source of Yangtze without result. With times of exploration and resource development, now we know Yangtze River well, and understand where it comes from. Actually, the Source of Yangtze River can be divided into 3 parts: Tuotuo River,Tongtian River and Jinsha River. Then Jinsha River meet Min River in Yibing, where is the starting of Yangtze River.













The Tuotuo River, the source of the Yangtze River, originates from the glaciers of the Jianggendiru Snow Mountains located at the southwestern side of the highest Geladandong Peak in the Tanggula Mountain Range.

The Tongtian River in Kham's proverb is the tributary where the Tuotuo River, the origin of the Yangtze River, joins the Tangqu. It runs southeast and passes the Batang outfall in Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, in Northwest China's Qinghai Province.

The Tongtian River area appeals to many people, especially the Tibetans, not only because the river itself is quite mythical; it is also known for its "sutra bridge" and "Gyiana Mani stones."


From Batang outfall to Yibing, Sichan, is the Jinsha River, also called River of Golden Sands for golden sands found in Song dynasty. It has the fastest speed between mountains and gorges, and the tiger leaping gorge is here. Having a bird view Jinsha River, you can discovery the biggest Danxia landform in China.

With more info about Yangtze, please visit Yangtze River Facts.

The argument about Three Gorges Dam Project never ends since it has been built in May, 2006, or it could be earlier to discuss whether to build or not. The Advantages & Disadvantages of Three Gorges Dam were clear at that time, but before taking about them, there are some backgrounds need to mention.
 
Yangtze River is divided into upper, middle and lower reaches. And the Three Gorges Dam was built upper of the Yangtze, by the town of Sandouping, located in the Yiling District of Yichang, in Hubei province, China. The most straightforward reason of choosing Yichang to build Three Gorges Dam is to control the water level better so that two-thirds of the Yangtze River flood would not have occurred, which is also the most Advantages of Three Gorges Dam project.

Cargo Ship crossing through Three Gorges Dam Lock

What’s more the usage of water to generate electricity is another good side of this project. With the massive water assistance, the cargo ships loading capacity easily has improved to 5,000 tons and save a huge cost, which should be admitted. 

On the other hand, the Disadvantages were enormous: More than 100 million people have to migrate, fertile riverside land would be flooded; some endangered species and certain important historical monuments have to be flooded.

With 8 years passed, The Three Gorges Dam is still standing along Yangtze River, attracting tourists to visit her mighty flood Discharge.












With more info about the topic,please visit: http://www.yangtze-river-cruises.com/three-gorges/pros-cons.html

May Day is near the corner, have you ready for your vacation? Have you ever considered Yangtze River Cruise? If don’t considered, then you will miss out the best time for Yangtze Cruise in this May Day. Why? Here I’ve listed 3 reasons for May Day-best time for Yangtze River Cruise. Go on reading to find the answer. 
(1) No Rush:
Most people like travel, but it makes them exhausted at the same time. While for Yangtze Cruise, you can travel over relax, all are ready for you. No rush and No worry.
(2) Avoid Crowding:
Although it is the peak time for Yangtze Cruise, tourists still enjoy the comfort without crowds. On board, each room has its own balcony for private viewing and the deck is big enough for sightseeing; when taking excursion, enough time will be given to tour around freely.
(3) Total Nature:
On board of Yangtze River, you will catch the sunrise and sunset, enjoy the tribe of Yangtze, experience the peapod boat rifting, and more are waiting for you to explore. In this best time of May, taking a 4-day Chongqing to Yichang Yangtze Cruise will be awesome to discovery the green water and nature landscapes.

Victoria Jenna &Victoria Anna
The Victoria Cruise Ships are quite special for the ONLY American cruise line on the Yangtze River, so guest from America can get the same local service abroad. 
Victoria Jenna: the newest and largest Yangtze River cruise ship, it has most of superior cabins of 149; Victoria Anna: as the Yangtze's most luxurious ship, it has a larger private space than any other Victoria Ships.


Century Paragon &Century Legend
These two cruises are sisters of Century Cruise ships. Both are the 5-star luxury Yangtze Cruises and made their Maiden Voyage in 2013. With 7 decks and capacity of 408, you can enjoy the happy times with your family and friends.
Yangtze Explorer
Carrying just 124 passengers, Yangtze Explorer cruise has 62 cabins in total. Each cabin and suite features a viewing balcony, which gives guests the large private space.

This Only super 5-star cruise also with the high standard international service, Yangtze Explorer welcomed many financial and political giants, such as Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and Henry Kissinger.

Nowadays, people like to visit the ThreeGorges Dam is not just for its biggest hydroelectric dam in the world, but also want to witness the stunning flood discharge scene. The later will the big reason in some degree. So before you go, try to get some background of when is the time for flood discharge can do some help.

The natural scenery with Yangtze River Cruising can be different with its route lines and time spending. But one thing can be sure that any line you choosing, you will not be disappointed, including Chongqing-Yichang, Chongqing-Shanghai and Chongqing-Wuhan cruise lines.

Chongqing-Yichang: With 648km cruise distance, taking for 4-day and 3-night, this cruise line is the most favorable for tourists. There a lot of must-sees along the way: Fengdu Ghost City, Shibaozhai Temple, Lesser Three Gorges, Shennong Stream, the Three Gorges Dam, etc.

Chongqing-Shanghai: This route line is the longest one with about 2644 kilometers, also the most relaxing one to enjoy the Yangtze cruise life for 7 days tour. According to the long distance, the highlights are more to see. Apart from the sceneries from Chongqing to Yichang, you can have land excursions to Mt. Jiuhuashan, Museums in Wuhan city, Confucian Temple in Nanjing and so forth.