573:(206 BC – 220 AD) and continued to be maintained and improved until the middle of the 20th century. The original purpose was to provide a footpath for human haulers to pull boats upstream. Thus they were always alongside cliffs next to the river. Since the earliest days, boats going downstream used oars just to get steerage way. Going upstream, human powered oars were no match to the rapid current. Thus gangs of humans, harnessed to a tow rope, hauled the boats upstream. These haulers needed a path along the steep cliffs to walk on. Thus the Ancient Pathways were built. Even today haulers can be seen as in 天山網.
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309:(白鹽山) on the south. The point where the river passes between these mountains is called the Kuimen Gate (夔門) and it is the entrance to the Qutang Gorge – the first of the three Yangtze gorges. The Qutang Gorge is only 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) long, but it is also the narrowest of the Three Gorges. The widest point measures only 150 metres (500 ft) wide. The mountains on either side reach as high as 1,200 metres (4,000 ft). This combination of narrow
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who was buried at the top of the cliff. Meng Liang wanted to find the remains of
General Yang and give him a proper burial back in his home town. During the night Meng Liang constructed the stairway. A monk at the top of the mountain saw him coming and crowed like a rooster. Meng Liang, thinking the
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Holes such as these are used as a walk-way several places in the Three Gorges region. Poles were inserted into the holes and then either a walkway could be constructed or a person could walk from pole to pole. Historians do not know why these particular holes were constructed, nor do they know why
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displaying its tail feathers. Moss and bamboo growing next to the formation look like feathers on a bird. Water still drips from the head of the stalactite bird, and hence the
Chinese have dubbed it the Drinking Phoenix Spring (鳳凰泉). The formation is extremely difficult to see from the river, but
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of southern China. Coffins of various significant shapes were often carved out of a whole piece of wood. Hanging coffins either rest upon beams projecting outward from the cliff's vertical faces such as mountains, are placed in caves in the face of cliffs, or sit on natural rock projections on
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on the Qutang Gorge has been especially large. Many of the historically significant sites in the Qutang Gorge are located closer to the water level. Even prior to the dam construction the water level would come close to many sites during the rainy season. The water has now covered many of the
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On the south side of the river (Baiyan
Mountain) a series of rectangular holes is carven into the cliff face. The holes are almost exactly 1 metre apart and 1 metre deep. The holes zig-zag up part of the cliff face in a Z-shape. These holes are known as the Meng Liang Stairway (孟良梯).
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they only reach part of the way up the cliff face. Remains of city walls have been located at the top of the cliff, and some historians have theorized that the pathway might have been intended to enable a person to access the city from the river.
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On the cliff face near Meng Liang's
Staircase there is a rock shaped like an upside down person. This is the Hanging Monk Rock (倒吊和尚). According to legend, when Meng Liang discovered that the monk had feigned a
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Over the years, these paths were expanded and improved. In addition to paths for haulers, paths were built for hauling goods up mountains. These higher paths would survive the flooding after the
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among high mountains with several switchbacks in only 8 kilometres creates spectacular vistas, and the Qutang Gorge is often considered the most beautiful of all the Three Gorges.
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important sites in the Gorge including the
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call, and frightened him off the mountain, he was so angry that he found the monk and hung him upside down from the cliff face.
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Baidicheng was an ancient city on the northern shore of the
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Although the Qutang Gorge is the furthest upstream of all the affected gorges, the impact of the
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Memorial Temple in
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morning had arrived, quickly abandoned his plan to avoid being caught.
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there is a pathway that allows direct access to the caves.
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The Daxi settlement was the first discovered site of the
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Four men towing a boat upstream near Qutang Gorge in 1980
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Baidicheng, an ancient city on the shore of the Yangtze.
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385:characters
363:Chalk Wall
347:Baidicheng
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656:"三峽棧道圖片"
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