Rising on the edge of the Tibetan plateau, it plunges off the roof of the world down huge gorges, winding its way through some of the most striking landforms on the planet. And few are as famed for their beauty as the Three Gorges. This stunning 200km stretch draws on over 3,000 years of cultural history, serving as the inspiration for famous Tang Dynasty poets, and even boasting representation on the back of the 10 yuan note.

It is also the location of a wonder of the modern world, and one guaranteed to bring out the inner engineering nerd in us all – the Three Gorges Dam. The largest hydro-electric power station in the world, the dam wall itself is 1.9km long and 185m high and took 12 years to construct; a workforce of 30,000 laboring around the clock in three eight-hour shifts. Its 26 turbines produce 80 TWh a year, accounting for three percent of China’s energy consumption (it was expected to be 10 percent when construction began, such has been the growth in demand for electricity from this booming nation). It is, quite simply, a building project on scale seen nowhere else in the world and, at a cost of US$28 billion, the third most expensive individual object in the world, ever. It is safe to say that no other nation but China would have been capable of pulling it off, a fact to which the 1.3 million people relocated stand testament.

Hydroelectric energy isn’t the only way that the Yangtze assists in powering the nation. Known as the ‘Main Street’ of China, the river remains a major artery through the heart of the country, and one passes countless large barges of coal, as well as those carrying sulfur, fruit, tarpaulin covered trucks and numerous other goods. More sights on the shore: shipyards – men miniscule as they hammer away at huge, hulking shells of would-be river behemoths; ancient temples that cling precariously to the craggy cliff faces; solitary, houses, tucked away in improbably inaccessible folds of the green slopes, the lives lived within little different from centuries ago, despite the wave of change rolling up this mighty waterway.

Daily excursions are available. As well as admiring the dam itself, you are offered the opportunity to take a look at the lives of those who have been relocated; to visit Fengdu, the town of ghosts, where Li Bai reflected “one day we all shall live”; and to transfer onto smaller boats in order to explore the narrow tributaries with their aqueous caves, rainbow fountains and rare wildlife like macaques and mandarin ducks.

As for the boat itself, the Yangzi Explorer allows the traveler to take in stunning scenery in complete comfort and with all mod cons. Cabins are large with satellite TV, power showers and a fridge full of chilled chardonnay to sip on your private balcony. Four-course meals are prepared by a top chef, talks and interactive workshops laid on in addition to the excursions, entertainment organized for children and the crew unfailingly friendly, without ever being intrusive. A library, bar, gym, theater, the Internet… heck, it even has a Dragonfly spa on board. It is, in effect, a 124-passenger boutique hotel on water.

Let us transcend these earthly delights though. It is the gorges themselves that eclipse all: the great un-giving slabs of granite and steep green slopes that roll on, one after the next; the vertiginous yellow rockfaces, whose seemingly unreachable crevices contain the coffins of ancient cliff burials; and the myth-drenched peaks, disappearing upwards into shrouds of mist. Words cannot convey the scale of the scenery. Dwarfed by its presence, and transfixed by its beauty, it is impossible not to become meditative. The inspiration for great poets, Daoism and Buddhism took hold in this region for good reason – no need for the intervention of a higher power with the world itself so physically overwhelming, awe-inspiring.