Yangtze River Cruises & Three Gorges tours in China
Century Emerald will have its maiden voyage in 2010, and it is a 5-star plus deluxe Yangtze cruise ship.
Manufactured by: Chongqing East Wind Shipping Industry Corporation.
Century Emerald is waiting for the maiden voyage at Mingyuetuo, Chongqing
More:
New Century Cruises
Century Diamond
Century Emerald
Viking River Cruises on the Yangtze
Viking River Cruises:Two-for-one river cruises
Due to increased demand as a result of World Expo 2010 in Shanghai, Victoria Cruises is repositioning the Victoria Rose between Chongqing and the Shanghai area to provide additional cruise capacity to and from the Expo from September through October.
The Victoria Rose is Victoria Cruises’ only classic category ship.
The Victoria Rose will depart Chongqing on Sept. 13, Sept. 27 and Oct. 11, arriving six days later in either Nanjing or Jiangyin depending on port authority approval. The classic vessel will embark on its return journeys to Chongqing on Sept. 19, Oct. 3 and Oct. 17.
Victoria Cruises will provide a motorcoach transfer from Jiangyin (about 50 minutes from Shanghai) or Nanjing (a little over two hours drive from China’s largest metropolis) and the reverse.
These sailings will augment Victoria Cruises’ existing service between Chongqing and Shanghai on the five-star Victoria Prince.
“We are happy to comply with the many requests of Expo participants for extra cruise capacity to and from Shanghai,” said Larry Greenman, manager of public relations and customer service for Victoria Cruises. “It provides the perfect opportunity to expose more passengers to the less often seen, but equally stimulating sections of the Yangtze River east of Yichang.”
Highlights of the journey include a magnificent sailing experience through the mist-shrouded Three Gorges, exhilarating onboard activities such as Tai Chi lessons and a host of nightly entertainment options, as well as the following scenic excursions:
- The massive Three Gorges Dam, the largest hydroelectric engineering project in the world.
- The “Ghost City” of Fengdu at Mingshan Hill, lined with statues of spirits and demons.
- A sailing experience through the impressive Small Gorges of the Daning River, one of the Yangtze’s tributaries, bringing passengers to a floating dock near Dachang, where they will disembark to board a traditional sampan for a tranquil ride through the “Mini Gorges” of the Ma Du River, a tributary of the Daning (Daning River excursion may be substituted with Shennong Stream depending on river conditions).
- Huangshan, one of China’s most outstanding scenic attractions also known as “Yellow Mountain.”
- The city of Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province.
- Nanjing, capital of the Jiangsu province, where cruisers will experience the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum and a Qing Dynasty-style Bazaar surrounding a Confucian Temple.
Recently, the five-star cruise liner “Princess Jeannie” anchored at Tongling Harbor in Tongling city, Anhui province. 278 tourists disembarked from the ship and head for the Yellow Mountain, the Jiuhua Mountain, and the Tianzhu Mountain, well-renowned attractions in Anhui.
This is the Yangtze River Tour launched by the province in 2009 to revitalize the Golden Waterway touring market.
The cruise ship makes a round trip once a week between Shanghai and Wuhan, Hubei province. It sails at night and berths by day, so tourists can appreciate the unparallelled natural beauty along the river as well as indulge in comfort and leisure on the ship.
The vessel is dubbed “the floating holiday resort”, for food, accommodation, travelling, entertainment, shopping services are provided on the deck.
Some 20,000 tourists visited the scenic spots along the Yangtze River section within Anhui by “Princess Jeannie” over the past year. A total of 32 voyages are expected this year, however, in view of the current passenger flow, more voyages are supposed to be made to meet the tourists’ needs.
A few miles into Fenjie County, on the northern bank of the Yangtze River is Baidi City (White Emperor City), also called Baidi Temple. It is located on Baidi Mountain at the mouth of Qutang Gorge, one of the Three Gorgers of the Yangtze River.
It is said that in the late Western Han Dynasty (206 BC – 24 AD), Gongsun Shu, a general, set up a separatist regime by force of arms in Sichuan. He claimed himself the King of Shu. Because he saw white fog rising from the well of the mountain which was like a white dragon, he called himself the White Emperor. And he made it the capital city and gave the city the name – White Emperor City.
Baidi City exists now at the site was repaired in the Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty (1368 – 1911). As it against Kui Gate of Qutang Gorge in the east, it is close to the Eight Elements Battle Formation in the west and is surrounded with water on three sides, it was often the point of battle in history. Numerous celebrities have been here and created poems. So the city is reputed to be Poem City.
In Baidi Temple, some ancient architecture can be seen. Tuogu Tang (Entrusting Son’s Hall) is the most attractive one. In the Three Kingdoms Period (220 – 280), the king of the Shu Kingdom, Liu Bei, failed in the battle with the Wu Kingdom at Baidi City. He became ill and entrusted his son to his prime minister, Zhuge Liang before closing his eyes. Now, the hall exhibits the statues which depict the scene of Liu Bei entrusting his son to Zhuge Liang. Mingliang Palace is where the statue of Gongsun Shu was once sacrificed by the people. In the Ming Dynasty, the stature was replaced by those of Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhangfei and Zhuge Liang. Another feature worth-mention is the Observing Stars Pavilion (Guanxing Ting). It is the place where Zhuge Liang observed the stars and developed the tactic of using arms.
Other relics housed in Baidi Temple are a stele forest, ancient suspended wooden coffins, painting and calligraphy works by celebrities of different dynasties.
Since the water level has risen due to the Three Gorges Dam Project, Baidi City has become an isolated island surrounded with water. In order to facilitate tourist to visit this ancient temple, a wind-rain bridge has been built at the foot of Baidi City. Also, a dock was built for visitors to visit the ancient emplacement, cliff-side inscriptions and other attractions by boat.
Book early for discounts on Viking next year.
One of the fastest-growing segments of the travel industry in the past decade has been river cruises, and a leading specialist is offering big discounts until July 31 on 2011 sailings.
Viking River Cruises, which sails in Europe, Russia, China and Egypt, is offering two-for-one cruises plus up to two-for-one pricing on round-trip international air.
Plus, the deal includes wine with all dinners. The Viking Prestige will sail the eight-day Romantic Danube itinerary from Budapest to Nuremberg. Viking Emerald (a new ship launching next year) sails China’s Yangtze River.
China’s controversial Three Gorges Dam appears to have passed its biggest test yet, managing to contain raging flood waters yesterday as the Yangtze River rose to levels not seen in more than a decade.
The dam is successfully handling an inflow of 70,000 cubic metres a second and discharging 40,000 cubic metres a second.
Floodwaters in south-west Chongqing municipality, after torrential rains hit areas along the Yangtze river.
Photograph : 21 July 2010
More:
Chongqing Dock
Yangtze Cruises ships at Chongqing dock
Flood water of Gezhou Dam
Gezhou Dam release flood waters
The picture was taken in 2010.7.19
About Gezhou Dam
Three-Gorges Tribe Scenic Spot
Yichang New Century Pier
Yichang Port
Wushan County is a county located in Chongqing municipality.
The county seat is located at the western entrance to the Wu Gorge in the Three Gorges region of China. Wushan is famous for its Little Three Gorges located on the nearby Daning River.
Wushan county seat is on the northern bank of the Yangtze River channel, which in the Gorges region was flooded after the construction of the Three Gorges Dam. The original town was abandoned and submerged under the rising waters, and the new town constructed on the hills above.
Photoed by wsdpg_2504@qq.com
Twelve Peaks of Mt.Wushan
Goddess Stream
Tales about the Goddess Peak
Picture of Goddess Peak
We’re looking at travelling by train from Xi’an to Guangzhou. We have two weeks in which to complete the journey between the cities. Apart from Guilin, which we have visited previously but will visit again, could you suggest some other cities/sights on the train route/s that we could add to our itinerary.
The Xi’an to Guangzhou train trip is every bit as inspiring as my fellow traveller Steve McKenna suggests, but I’m going to make the case for a slightly different and more westerly route between the two cities. From Xi’an, take a train south-west to the city of Chengdu, where the main attraction is the nearby Wolong Nature Reserve, home to China’s best known giant panda sanctuary.
If you’re feeling adventurous, you might take a tour into the heights of the sensational Hailuogou National Glacier Forest Park, 320 kilometres from Chengdu on the border of Tibet. From Chengdu, take an express train for the half-day trip to Chongqing, where you could take a four-day cruise downstream along the Yangtze with Victoria Cruises, passing through the amazing Three Gorges with several stops along the way, including the engineering marvel of the Three Gorges Dam.
The cruise ends at Yichang, from where you can take a train to Wuhan, then another train south to reacquaint yourself with the liquid glories of Guilin, and finally on to Guangzhou.
