Yangtze River

The Yangtze River Cruise: What It Was, What Changed, and What You Can Still See

The Three Gorges Dam displaced approximately 1.4 million people. This is the largest involuntary human displacement for a single infrastructure project in history. The towns and villages that sat in the gorge bottoms are underwater; what’s left is visible in the “ghost town” markers on the hillsides, concrete walls and doorways that were supposed to be above the new waterline but weren’t. The dam has also been credited with preventing the catastrophic flooding that historically killed thousands annually in the lower Yangtze basin. Both things are true simultaneously, and it’s worth knowing both before you cruise through what is now a reservoir.

The Yangtze flows 6,300 kilometres from the Tibetan plateau to Shanghai. The Three Gorges section, between Chongqing and Yichang, remains dramatic despite the 175-metre rise in water level. The Three Gorges section, the 200-kilometre stretch between Chongqing and Yichang that cuts through limestone mountains in a series of narrow canyon walls, was the world’s great Yangtze experience for most of the 20th century. It is now partially submerged: the Three Gorges Dam, completed in 2006, raised the river by up to 175 metres and flooded the original gorge bottoms. The cliffs are still there; they’re shorter. Many of the historic sites and villages that sat in the gorges are underwater.

This is not a story about something that can never be seen. It’s a story about seeing what’s actually there now rather than mourning what was.

The Three Gorges Today

The Qutang, Wu, and Xiling Gorges still present dramatic cliff scenery. The walls drop more than 100 metres to the waterline in sections; the river is a brown-green colour from silt and moves faster in the gorge sections than the placid lake stretches above the dam. The scale is striking in ways that photographs don’t capture well: the gorge walls press close on both sides and the river feels narrow against the height of what flanks it.

The “Lesser Three Gorges” (Daning River Gorges), a tributary off the Wu Gorge, were barely affected by the dam rise and remain the most dramatic narrow canyon section on any Yangtze cruise. The smaller boat excursions into the Daning run upstream from Wushan, switching to even smaller vessels to enter the narrowest sections. This is the best day of most Yangtze cruises and should not be skipped.

The Shennong Stream, another tributary, offers similar small-boat excursions. Traditional rowing boats (rather than motorised launches) can be arranged and the experience of being rowed through the narrow rock channels by trackers standing on the gunwales is something genuinely particular to this part of China.

The Three Gorges Dam

The dam at Sandouping is visible from cruise ships and there’s a designated viewing platform that most cruises include as a stop. The dam is 2.3 kilometres wide and 185 metres high; by capacity it’s the world’s largest hydroelectric dam. The five-step ship locks that allow river traffic through are one of the engineering achievements worth seeing in operation. The transit through the locks takes 3 to 4 hours.

The dam is controversial. The inundation displaced approximately 1.4 million people, destroyed archaeological sites dating to the Paleolithic period, and significantly affected the river’s ecosystem, including the Chinese river dolphin (effectively extinct since the mid-2000s) and the Chinese sturgeon. The dam’s flood control function was demonstrated in the 2020 floods, when it operated at designed capacity for the first time.

Choosing a Cruise

The standard cruise format is 3 to 5 days between Chongqing and Yichang (or the reverse, downstream typically taking less time). Luxury cruise ships on this route offer amenities comparable to ocean cruising; mid-range Chinese cruise ships are more modest but cover the same scenery. Downstream (Chongqing to Yichang) is the more common direction. Independent travellers can take ferry tickets between the two cities on working passenger vessels for a fraction of the cruise price.

The cruise season is year-round; summer (June to August) brings high water levels and sometimes mist that obscures gorge views. Autumn (September to November) is generally considered the best season: lower water, clearer air, and autumn colour on the forested slopes.

Fengdu Ghost City

Fengdu, on the north bank about halfway between Chongqing and the gorges, is a “Ghost City” in the sense that it contains a complex of temples dedicated to the afterlife in Chinese Buddhist cosmology. The original town was submerged; the temples are on a hilltop above the waterline. The figures depicting various stages of the underworld are specific to this site and worth the shore excursion.

Practical Notes

English signage is limited outside major tourist sites. Learn basic Mandarin numbers and compass directions before boarding. Cruises from Chongqing depart from the Chaotianmen Dock in the city centre. Yichang airport (WUH) has connections to Beijing, Shanghai, and other major Chinese cities. The dam and gorges are typically combined with a Chongqing city stay (the city’s hot pot and the surrounding Jiangbei area are worth a full day) or with onward travel to Wuhan.