Imperial Tours’ China Luxury Travel Blog
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Before the introduction of the engine, trackers were an indispensable feature of transport along the Yangzi. These river people battled daily with the river, providing the muscle to drag 40-100 ton vessels 1500 miles from Shanghai to Chongqing up a series of treacherous gorges and against a current of 6-12 knots. Mostly men, they worked like cattle for 12 hours a day, nine days at a time, to earn enough money to feed themselves poorly and every so often escape to an opium-fueled Elysium.
There
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"The empire, long divided, must unite; long united, must divide." So begins the historical fiction "The Three Kingdoms" with a line as recited by the Chinese Diaspora as "To be or not to be" in the West.
These days many Western business schools introduce Eastern strategic thinking through Sun Tzu's treatise, "The Art of War". One imagines that there is no better primer for mediaeval battle. However, for an introduction to the Chinese co
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If China's Three Gorges Dam were as large as the controversy surrounding it, this would surely be the biggest dam in the world. Although it is the world's largest in terms of electrictiy production and overall investment, it is not the biggest dam in the world. A close comparison in terms of size would be the Grand Coulee Dam in the U.S. which is slightly larger.
This is not to understate the impact the dam will have on China's future development in terms of flood control, increased
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The Three Gorges were so named from the late Han dynastic period (23 - 220 AD). This nomenclature groups into a set of three the numerous shoals and gorges of the Yangzi river between Wanxian and Yichang. The Three Gorges are the Qutang Gorge (8km long), the Wuxia Gorge (45km long) and the Xilong (66km long) Gorge.
The gorges are as fabled today as they have been throughout the past two millennia. Countless poets have written of the gorges’ beauty and treachery, while historians, ca
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In 1897, Isabella Bird asked her acquaintance Mr. Endecott how she might occupy herself during the voyage up the Yangzi. "You'll have enough to do looking after your life," he enjoined.
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The Yangzi was such a major trade and communication route that as soon as the Communist government came to power in 1949, one of its priorities was to improve the Upper Yangzi's navigability. By dynamiting its many small gorges and submarine perils, the Communists revolutionized its safety.
...Day One
You will fly to Chongqing in Sichuan province, arriving in the evening where you will board Viking River Cruises' new ship, the "Century Sky". (Yangzi Explorer) (D)
Day Two
Sailing downstream, you will soon arrive at Shibaozhai, a red, multi-storied temple built during the reign of Emperor Qianlong (1736-96). The addition of a wooden staircase has made a substantial improvement on the original means of ascending this cliff-face temple - a few hundred year
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Contents Luxury Travel News Hotel/Restaurant News Calendar Odds N' Ends - David Spindler Interview Discovery - Sanxingdui |
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Dear Guy, From our founding, Imperial Tours' Monthly Group tours and FITs have challenged the notion that there are no sophisticated venues in China. Seven years later, it is widely acce | |||
by Leslie Chang
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
ABOARD THE MV EMPEROR ON THE YANGTZE RIVER -- Shortly after our cruise ship set sail from the Sichuan town of Fengdu on its way down the Yangtze River, its hardworking crew began to entertain us. Four women in harem pants and navel-baring tops performed a lantern dance. The chief tour guide pressed several audience members into a potato race. Three young women danced in hula skirts, one batting her eyelashes at the audience while
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