Three Gorges Dam - Pushing the Limits: New Adventures in Engineering - page 145

Bridged tributary to the Yangtze, before flooding
Just before midnight, the Snow Mountain dropped anchor, so that we would be able to appreciate
our entry into Wu Gorge, the middle of the Three Gorges, at dawn. A short way into Wu Gorge,
we tied up at the town of Wushan, built on the side of a mountain. (“Wushan” was translated as
“Witch Mountain” by our guide.) The road was reached via a long flight of stairs, a typical arrange-
ment along the Yangtze, where the water level can vary by thirty meters or more from low water to
spring-runoff height. The buses carrying the delegation strained at the steep climb along the town's
main street, which was very narrow and lined with small shops of all descriptions. At a wye in the
road, a group of men stood with bamboo poles as if awaiting orders to fight. The guide told us this
was a bang bang jun, variously translated as a “stick army” or a “help, help army.” When in use,
the bamboo poles are balanced on the shoulder, and cords at each end support baskets, bags, or
any commodity in need of transportation. Throughout China, we saw this method used for carrying
everything from groceries from the market to construction materials at a job site. Here in Wushan,
there were also large trucks being used to haul larger quantities of construction materials higher up
the mountain, to the site of the new city.
After passing over the hill on which Wushan is built, the bus carried the delegation down toward
the Daning River, a tributary of the Yangtze. We were headed for a landing paved with excursion
boats ready to take tourists up through what are known as the Lesser Three Gorges. The entrance to
these gorges is framed dramatically by Long-men Bridge, a concrete arch structure high above the
river. This classically proportioned crossing will survive the flooding, but only by a small amount,
thus changing the appearance of this dramatic entrance to some of the most beautiful scenery we
experienced on the entire trip. The Lesser Three Gorges stretch some fifty kilometers up the Daning