The Three Gorges of the Yang-tze River consist of the Qu Tang Gorge in the upstream, the Wu Gorge in midstream and the downstream Xi Ling Gorge. The Yang-tze originates from the far west and has been flowing through the Si Chuen Province of China towards the east coast for thousands of years, giving life to the Chinese civilization.

The Qu Tang Gorge was famous for being narrow and winded apart from the speedy river flow and the steep mountains surrounding its banks, thus causing the wreckage of thousands of vessels throughout the years of Chinese history. The Wu Gorge is wide with straighter course. It is famous for the fogs and clouds, natural vegatation and the fairy tales of Wu Shan - A gorgeous mountain transformed from a beautiful goddess. It was almost always covered by fog over 95% of the time of a year. The Xi Ling Gorge at the downstream is famous for the grand width of the Yang-tze which seems to be endless even when viewed from the top of the surrounding mountains. There are many historically famous cities along the banks of the Three Gorges, mostly associated with the history of the era of Three Kingdoms about 1500 years ago. Some of these cities together with the beautiful scenaries along the original bank have already been flooded in 2003 and will remain permanently underwater, never to be seen again by our generation.

During my visit from Dec 9 to 11, 2002, the construction of the Main Dam at the Three Gorges was more than 60% complete. Flooding behind the Main Dam was due in 2003. Resettlement of the villagers affected by the project had almost finished. This gallery contains the pictures of the beautiful Three Gorges taken during my trip. Most of the photos were taken during the boat trip to the Mini Three Gorges, which is a tributory of the Yang-tze near Wu Gorge, where the scenary is the best.