Yichang, China ( WASER Net)

From August 10 to 11, participants for the WASER/IAHR-APD/IRTCES Study Tour to the TGP took the boat to visit the TGP and small boat to Shennong stream.

The Yangtze Three Gorges is one of the most famous tourism spots in the world for its unique and magnificent scenery. The Gorges reach is full of swirling whirlpools, dangerous shoals and roaring rapids, the banks sheer precipice and overhanging rocks linking with mountain and apprear undulating hill scenery. In braod sections of the Gorges, there is a scene of mountain and appear undulating hill scenery. In broad sections of the Gorges, there is a scene of mountain towns and hamlets with terraced fields, dense forests and tall bamboo forests, and the air scented with organges and tangerines. The spectacular scenery of the Three Gorges has attacted and deeply impressed numberous tourists both at home and abroad.

After impounding , a flat lake with a total water surface of 1,084 square kilometer will appear in the Gorges reach. Due to the rising of water level, the relative height of the mountains above the water surface in the Gorges reach will decrease, as a result, the gorge's feeling and the scenery of cliffs and canyons in some parts of the Gorges will possibly be weakened to certain extent. However, as teh water surface will not be enlarged obviously, the visual sense effects of the landscape in the Gorges from a far or middle distance view will remain. The famous twelve peaks of the Wusha Mountain are all 800-1,200 m in height above the sea level. In summer, the water level will only increase by 40-50 m, therefore, the Goddess peak will remain tall enough to erect on the summit of the mountains, and tourists still need to look up to see its charming face. Once the reservoir is formed, the scenes with many shoals, rapids and roaring waves will disappear, while the basic looking of grand, spectacle and seclusion for the Three Gorges will remain unchanged.

Shennogn Stream is a tributary carrying clear, cooler water into the Yangtze. o Runs through steep gorges o The ancient Asian Bahu people used to live. o The area is now occupied by Tujin minority peoples of China who retain much of the primitive culture, such as the traditional tracker boats, which are powered by rowing, or by heaving long ropes from the shore in conditions of shallow or fast flowing water.

Taking small boats which are powered by heaving long ropes from the shore in conditions of shallow or fast flowing water of Shennong stream.