Yichang Three Gorges Tribe Scenic Area
1. Overview
The Yichang Three Gorges Tribe Scenic Area is located within the Xiling Gorge section of the Yangtze River's Three Gorges in Yichang City, Hubei Province, situated between the Three Gorges Dam and the Gezhouba Dam, spanning both banks of the Dengying Gorge, covering an area of 276 square kilometers.
The Yichang Three Gorges Tribe Scenic Area is renowned for its "swift bends, peculiar rocks, secluded valleys, extraordinary caves, and sweet springs." It includes attractions such as Longjin Stream, the Fourth Spring Under Heaven, Yepoling Ridge, Dengying Cave, the War of Resistance Memorial Hall, Shipai Ancient Town, and Yangjiaxi Rafting. It integrates geological culture, Ba culture, Chu culture, Tujia culture, gorge river port culture, and military culture from the War of Resistance. Its tourism essence can be summarized as "One, Two, Three, Four": One Hall (the Shipai War of Resistance Memorial Hall), Two Special Projects (the Three Gorges Tribe Folk Customs Project and the Yangjiaxi Military Rafting Project), Three Firsts (the First Bend of the Three Gorges—Mingyue Bay, China's First Divine Tablet—Shiling Tablet, the First Stone of the Yangtze River—Dengying Stone), and the Fourth Spring Under Heaven—Hamagu Spring. The Three Gorges Tribe Folk Customs Project is further divided into Water Dwellers, Streamside Dwellers, Hill Dwellers, and Today's Dwellers.
In 2011, the Yichang Three Gorges Tribe Scenic Area was rated as a National 5A-level Tourist Attraction by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People's Republic of China.
2. Geographical Environment
2.1 Location and Territory
The Yichang Three Gorges Tribe Scenic Area is located in Yiling District, Yichang City, situated between the Three Gorges Dam and the Gezhouba Dam, belonging to the eastern section of the Xiling Gorge of the Yangtze River, spanning both banks of the Xiling Gorge. Its geographical coordinates are between 110°59′—111°25′ east longitude and 30°40′—31°20′ north latitude. It stretches 31 kilometers east-west and spans 25 kilometers north-south, with the entire tourist area covering 276 square kilometers. The southern and western parts of the tourist area border Changyang Tujia Autonomous County, the west directly adjoins Zigui County, the north merges with the Three Gorges Dam, and the east connects with the Xiakou Scenic Area in Dianjun District and Xiling District of Yichang City. The scenic area spans the townships of Sandouping and Letianxi in Yiling District, with a planned control area of 50 square kilometers. It is 17 kilometers from the Gezhouba Dam on the Yangtze River, 19 kilometers from downtown Yichang, and 19 kilometers from the Three Gorges Dam.
2.2 Topography and Landforms
The Yichang Three Gorges Tribe Scenic Area belongs to a limestone weathering zone, falls within the scope of the Yangtze Three Gorges National Geopark, and is the core area of the Xiling Gorge Sinian Garden, possessing relatively precious geological resources. The soil is generally slightly acidic, suitable for good plant growth.
2.3 Climate Characteristics
The Yichang Three Gorges Tribe Scenic Area is located in the "Two Dams and One Gorge" region, which experiences a humid subtropical monsoon climate characterized by warm winters, dry springs, hot summers, rainy autumns, high humidity, and frequent fog. Simultaneously, as the scenic area is situated within the Xiling Grand Canyon, during hot summers, strong wind currents and flowing river water significantly influence the climate. With abundant rainfall, temperatures here are 2-3 degrees Celsius lower compared to the generally hot climate of the entire Three Gorges region. Ample sunlight and heat, long frost-free periods, distinct four seasons, and simultaneous occurrence of rain and heat are the basic characteristics of the Xiling Grand Canyon area. The annual total solar radiation ranges between 98x10³ and 103x10³ candela per square centimeter. The average annual sunshine duration is 1669.3 hours, the average annual temperature is 16.9 degrees Celsius, the accumulated temperature ≥10°C is 5408°C, the frost-free period lasts 292-320 days, and the annual precipitation ranges from 1100 to 1490 millimeters.
3. Main Attractions
Summary The Yichang Three Gorges Tribe Scenic Area not only boasts unique and abundant tourism resources but also features excellent forest vegetation. Facing the Yangtze River, it presents high mountains, deep gorges, layered peaks, fresh air, and a long history of cultural legends. The scenic area is renowned for its "swift bends, peculiar rocks, secluded valleys, extraordinary caves, and sweet springs," including attractions such as Longjin Stream, the Fourth Spring Under Heaven, Yepoling Ridge, Dengying Cave, the War of Resistance Memorial Hall, Shipai Ancient Town, and Yangjiaxi Rafting.
3.1 Three Gorges Tribe
The cultural attractions of the Three Gorges Tribe include Water Dwellers, Streamside Dwellers, and Hill Dwellers, encompassing traditional gorge-style stilted buildings and ancient architecture, antique-style landscapes like ancient sailing ships and black-canopied boats in clear streams, as well as custom performances such as fishermen casting nets on the river and young women washing clothes with ancient-style wooden mallets by the stream.
3.1.1 Water Dwellers
Water Dwellers is an ancient sailing ship cluster attraction located at the confluence of Longjin Stream and the Yangtze River. By building a dam on the side near the stream to intercept Longjin Stream's water, the water level is raised by 1-2 meters. Longjin Bridge spans the water surface, with emerald green stream water and lush forests. "Beneath Longjin Bridge, spring waves are green; once it was where a fleeting swan's reflection came." Here, performances mainly depict fishermen on ancient sailing boats casting nets to catch fish, recreating the survival methods and labor habits of generations of gorge fishermen and continuing the ancient fishing culture.
3.1.2 Streamside Dwellers
Streamside Dwellers are nestled against mountains and beside water, half on land and half over the water. The stilted building architectural landscape primarily features performances of mountain girls pounding and washing clothes while singing love songs.
3.1.3 Hill Dwellers
The "stilted buildings" of Hill Dwellers are referred to by modern architects as "pile-dwelling architecture." Due to the steep terrain in the gorge area, houses are mostly built following the mountain contours, with wooden structures, surrounded by bamboo groves and banana plants in front and behind. When encountering high embankments, pillars or walls are erected to align the eaves with the main house, hence the name "stilted building." Their unique feature is being lower in the front and higher in the back, with side corridors and rear balconies, commonly called "corner buildings with encircling verandas." They are generally two or three stories high. The upper floor is well-ventilated, dry, and damp-proof, serving as living quarters, while the lower floor is for livestock pens or storing sundries, also helping to prevent attacks by venomous snakes or beasts. Stilted buildings vary in size; ordinary homes typically have a structure with 4 rows of columns and 3 rooms, or 6 rows and 5 rooms, while wealthy families might have 7 main columns with 4 additional supporting columns, forming a courtyard with a skywell. The stilted buildings have winding corridors around them, equipped with railings. Due to their proximity to the river and the precipitous terrain, a single family's dwelling often has three or four levels, like steps. Hill Dwellers' houses are often just a few steps apart. Entering a house and passing through a door, another set of steps leads you to another living space, like playing hide-and-seek. The winding corridors twist and turn, concealing and hiding, making it easy for outsiders to enter but difficult to find their way out. Walking through these old houses, one can appreciate how the gorge people adapted to nature while constantly struggling against it, persistently building their lives while passionately enjoying their existence. The roofing materials are also of great interest: some use mud tiles, others thatch, slate, or black tiles, each with its preference and rationale. Those using mud tiles say, "When yellow earth is on the roof, the whole family is happy"; those with thatch roofs say, "Cured meat smells fragrant in a thatched cottage"; and those with slate roofs say, "Blessings are enjoyed beneath the slate." All this reflects the optimism, wit, and love for life of the gorge people. Ascending the stilted building, with its upturned eaves and winding corridors, looking around at the picturesque scenery, one experiences the poetic意境 of a "pavilion in the air." A poem praises: "Fantastic mountains and exquisite waters are a wonder on earth; the beauty of hill dwellers is fully captured. Spending a night resting in a stilted building, even dreams for ten years would be romantic."
3.2 Shiling Tablet
According to the Donghu County Annals: "On the south bank of the river, there is a huge rock spanning sixty to seventy zhang, standing with the imposing manner of ten thousand ren, resembling a tablet or raft, hence named Shipai (Stone Tablet)." The Shiling Tablet is 32 meters high, 12 meters wide at the top, 13 meters wide at the base, about 4 meters thick, and weighs over 4,300 tons. It is as straight as a blade, pure white throughout, with the imposing manner of a cliff standing ten thousand ren tall. The mountains of the Three Gorges are continuous and connected, but here they give way to a space, making the Shiling Tablet appear as if it emerged from thin air, standing tall by the riverbank. Composed of hard granite, it is as smooth as if cut by a knife on all sides, resembling a meticulously crafted "tablet" by human hands, forming a major geological wonder.
3.3 Dengying Stones
Four peculiar rocks standing erect on the mountain peak remarkably resemble the characters of Tang Monk and his disciples from Journey to the West on their pilgrimage to the West. Whenever the setting sun shines and the evening glow sets off the mountain peaks, viewed from afar, they appear like shadow puppet figures on a screen, vivid and lifelike, hence the name "Dengying Stones" (Shadow Play Stones). When Mr. Guo Moruo visited Dengying Gorge, he composed a poem in admiration: "Tang Monk and his disciples stand on the mountain head; shadows play in succession, Pig and Monkey." The most famous among the Dengying Stones is the Sha Seng Stone, hailed as the "First Stone of the Ten Thousand Li Yangtze River." It stands atop a sheer cliff, shaped like a mushroom, weighing over 100 tons. Its load-bearing base area is only a little over 200 square centimeters, bearing nearly half a ton per square centimeter on average, making it a world wonder and one of the iconic landscapes of Xiling Gorge.
3.4 Mingyue Bay
When the mighty Yangtze River surges to the Shipai river section, it makes a sharp 110-degree turn to the left here, changing direction to the east, forming a huge crescent shape. This is the "First Bend of the Yangtze Three Gorges"—Mingyue Bay (Bright Moon Bay). As a boat passes through Mingyue Bay, standing on the deck and gazing at the distant river surface, one finds the continuous mountains on both banks seemingly blocking the rolling Yangtze. But as the boat advances, the mountains retreat; the path turns, the peaks wind, and suddenly the view opens up again. Therefore, when Mr. Guo Moruo passed Shipai and looked into the distance at the First Bend, he exclaimed with emotion: "Mountains block,怀疑 no way out; the bend turns, revealing another world."
3.5 Dengying Cave
Dengying Cave is deep and narrow, approximately 1500 meters long. The karst landform景观 inside the cave is奇特, with varied cave passage地形. The "Five-Colored奇音 Stone" inside the cave is the most marvelous sight of Dengying Cave. It displays rich colors—black, white, yellow, gray, and green interwoven with clear boundaries. When struck by hand, it produces sounds like gongs and drums. Inside the cave, there is an underground river with a drop of 30 meters. The water flow is sometimes silent and slow, sometimes洪钟-like, sometimes潺潺悦耳, sometimes悠扬如琴鸣.### 3.6 Shipai Anti-Japanese War Memorial Hall In May of the 32nd year of the Republic of China (1943), to defend the wartime capital Chongqing, 150,000 Chinese troops engaged in a fierce and desperate battle against 100,000 Japanese invaders around Shipai. They achieved a glorious victory hailed as "China's Battle of Stalingrad," shattering the Japanese dream of capturing Chongqing and successfully halting the enemy's advance into the southwestern regions. This battle is a famous example in the Chinese theater of World War II where a weaker force triumphed over a stronger one.
The Shipai Anti-Japanese War Memorial Hall is the first comprehensive anti-Japanese war memorial hall in the Three Gorges area. It was built on the site of the wartime military installations. The hall covers an area of 440 square meters and consists of four parts: a Memorial Hall for Mourning and Remembrance, a Multimedia Exhibition Hall, a Graphic Exhibition Hall, and an Artifact Exhibition Hall. It houses over 200 precious artifacts and nearly 100 valuable photographs. In March 2003, the Yichang Municipal People's Government designated the Shipai Anti-Japanese War Memorial Hall as one of the first National Defense Education Bases.
3.7 Frog Spring
Frog Spring is located at the foot of Fanzi Mountain on the southern bank of Dengying Gorge. Originally, a large rock stood prominently at the spring site, resembling a frog with its mouth open, tongue out, eyes wide, and cheeks puffed, hence the name. The spring water flows perennially throughout the four seasons, clear and sweet in taste, making it an excellent source for brewing tea and making wine. A local folk rhyme from Shipai流传s: "Moonlight water, moonlight water, a living treasure spat by the little frog; Brew tea and the teacup sings like a phoenix, brew wine and the winecup soars like a white crane; Its fragrance can be smelled for ten li, intoxicating even the people."
Lu Yu, the Tea Sage of the Tang Dynasty, visited multiple times to taste the water. In his The Classic of Tea, he wrote: "On Fanzi Mountain in Xiazhou, there is a rock from which exceptionally clear and cold water flows, shaped like a turtle; commonly called Frog Mouth Water, it ranks fourth." Having tasted famous waters across the land, he ranked the waters suitable for tea nationwide: "The Water Curtain Water from Kangwang Valley on Mount Lu ranks first; the Stone Spring Water from Huishan Temple in Wuxi ranks second; the Water from under the Lanling Stone in Qizhou ranks third; the Frog Mouth Water at the foot of Fanzi Mountain in Xiazhou ranks fourth; the Spring Water from Tiger Hill Temple in Suzhou ranks fifth..."
As the seat of Xiazhou's administration was located in Shipai during the Later Zhou period before the Northern Song Dynasty and again during the Jianyan period of the Southern Song Dynasty when Yiling Commandery was established there, the area was prosperous and well-connected. Coupled with the far-reaching fame of Frog Spring, many literati after the Northern Song Dynasty left beautiful poems and writings about it. For example, Ouyang Xiu wrote: "The frog spurts a water curtain, its sweet liquid surpasses fine wine," and "Let's agree to try the spring buds, when will the spear-banner leaves turn green?" Su Zhe wrote: "Not only is it excellent for brewing tea, but for making wine it is also peerless." Huang Tingjian wrote: "The people of Ba casually speak of Frog Rock, let's try wrapping the new buds to brew and taste." Lu You wrote: "Within the Ba Dong gorges, the first gorge; among the springs under heaven, the fourth spring." "The first gorge" refers to Dengying Gorge, and "the fourth spring" refers to Frog Spring. The verses of these literati added further luster to Frog Spring, making it a famous scenic spot in Xiling Gorge.
4. Cultural Activities
4.1 Legends and Stories
Legend has it that Frog Spring is the nectar and divine liquor spat by a frog from the Moon Palace. Yang Yuxiu of the Qing Dynasty recorded a legendary myth about Frog Spring in his Illustrated Praise of Donghu's Products. A little frog from the Moon Palace, having secretly drunk the holy water from the Heavenly Pond, was struck unconscious by Wu Gang, the son of the Moon Palace, with an axe and fell from the clouds to the riverside of Dengying Gorge. It was rescued by a kind old woodcutter. To repay the life-saving grace, the little frog turned into stone, squatting by the river and spitting sweet liquid year after year. The little frog consumed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, absorbing the essence of the sun and moon, and what it spat out was also nectar and divine liquor.
4.2 Cultural History
4.2.1 Poetry
Rafting on Yangjia Stream (Seven-Character Regulated Verse)
Guan Yonghe
On Yangjia Stream the waters surge and roar, twelve perilous rapids swell with rising tide.
The boat like raging waves tosses a fallen leaf, the body like terrifying billows rolls a goose down.
Mountains spin, shores twist, truly alarming; earth sways, heaven rocks, yet courage swells with pride.
Do not say drifting shatters the soul; heart-stirring, pulse-pounding, passion runs high.
Guan Yonghe, born in the 26th year of the Republic of China (1937), is a native of Xiaogan City, Hubei Province. He has worked as a teacher, a cultural center cadre, and a professional writer. He published art作品 in 1956 and literary works the following year. To date, he has published 25 collections of literary works including poetry and prose, and over 300 paintings. He has served as Vice Chairman of the Hubei Provincial Writers Association, Vice Chairman of the Wuhan Federation of Literary and Art Circles, and Chairman of the Wuhan Writers Association. He is a First-Class Writer in literary creation and enjoys the State Council Special Government Allowance.
4.3 Local Snacks
The characteristic snacks of the Three Gorges Family Scenic Area in Yichang City include: Honghu Lotus Root and Pork Rib Hot Pot, Chicken Soup Fish Hot Pot, Golden Soup Yangtze River Silver Carp Hot Pot, Mouthwatering Chicken, Cured Pork Trotter Hot Pot, Secret Sauce Pickled Cucumbers, Farmer's "Carrying the Grid" (a local dish), Farmer's Sausage, etc.
4.4 Scenic Area Specialties
4.4.1 Tujia Cured Meat
Cured meat is a specialty of Hubei and an essential food for the Tujia people during the New Year. Its preparation method has a history of several thousand years. Every year during the twelfth lunar month, each household prepares New Year goods. Fresh pork that cannot be consumed immediately is cured with salt and a certain proportion of spices such as Sichuan peppercorns, bay leaves, fennel, star anise, and cinnamon for seven to fifteen days. It is then hung above the wood-burning kitchen stove or over a wood-burning heating stove to be slowly dried by the smoke. Some specifically use pine and cypress branches, tangerine tree bark, or firewood for slow smoking. The smoked cured meat has a bright, dark red color, with transparent, dry, and elastic flesh, possessing a unique cured flavor.
4.4.2 Three Gorges Navel Orange
Three Gorges Navel Oranges are produced in the Yangtze River Three Gorges valley area. Here, mountains overlap, climate types are diverse, with significant temperature inversion layer effects, slope wall effects, and water body effects, creating unique three-dimensional climates and warm winter characteristics. The Three Gorges valley area has abundant rainfall and suitable soil. Navel oranges have been cultivated in the Three Gorges for over 2,000 years. Three Gorges Navel Oranges are known for their excellent qualities: large fruit size, seedless, thin skin, bright color, crisp and juicy flesh, rich fragrance, and sweet taste.
4.4.3 Three Gorges Stone
Three Gorges Stones are mainly distributed in the stream valleys or lofty mountains along both banks of the gorge river. The stone sources come from upstream Yangtze River alluvium deposited here and the area's ancient pre-Sinian metamorphic rocks, sedimentary rocks, and Precambrian intrusive granite. Three Gorges Stones have diverse forms, with prominent colors, textures, and charm. Some patterns naturally form picturesque scenes with gorgeous colors and are widely used in garden landscape decoration.
4.4.4 Tujia Batik
Tujia batik often uses auspicious patterns as the base for design, mostly applied to daily items like door curtains, tablecloths, and bed valances. It emphasizes pure color matching, pays attention to composition and conception, and has a unique artistic style. During production, white cloth is spread flat, wax is heated and dissolved into liquid, and then a wax knife is dipped into the wax liquid to draw patterns on the white cloth. After drawing, the cloth is placed into a dye vat for immersion dyeing. Once dyed, it is removed and boiled in clean water. When the wax melts away, white patterns appear.
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