Yangtze River Cruise Tour from Shanghai

On arrival, you will meet your guide at the arrival hall. Your guide will give you a warm welcome and then escort you to your hotel in Shanghai. During your free time, you may either spend some private hours in your hotel room or take a walk in this international metropolis.

After breakfast, you will head to Jing’an Temple, which is the largest Buddhist temple in Shanghai. Jing’an Temple takes up a total area of more than 22,000 square meters, about the size of three football fields. Jing’an Temple, which means “Temple of Peace and Tranquility” in Chinese, is composed of three main buildings, i.e. the Main Shrine Hall, Hall of Heavenly Kings, and Hall of the Three Saints. In the Main Shrine Hall erects a special Buddha, whose body and pedestal are 100% made of silver, which is as many as 15 tons of silver. It is estimated that more than 48 million RMB (about 7.4 million US dollars) were consumed when building this 8.8-meter-tall statue of Sakyamuni.        

Then you will visit Yu Garden (closed each Mondays), a popular attraction that can be traced back to more than 400 years ago. Located in the northeastern part of the Shanghai old city area, Yu Garden covers a total area of over 20,000 square meters. Inside the Yu Garden, you will find two “centenarian” trees, which are a 400-year-old ginkgo and a 100-year-old female magnolia tree. It is said that there used to be a couple of ginkgoes standing at the very spot. As the female ginkgo died due to years of neglect, the then owner of the garden arranged a “remarriage” for the male one by planting a female magnolia tree beside it. In the past 100 years, the old ginkgo has apparently got long well with his new wife.          

After lunch, you will pay a visit to Shanghai World Financial Center, a skyscraper located in Lujiazui (one of Shanghai’s most prosperous parts). Covering some 380,000 square meters, Shanghai World Financial Center consists of 104 floors, with 101 floors on the ground and another three under the ground. In particular, Shanghai World Financial Center was rated as the best skyscraper completed in 2008 by CTBUH (the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat). The 492-meter-tall skyscraper integrates conference rooms, offices, observation decks, hotels, and ground-floor shopping malls. The area from 94th floor to 101st floor is used for observation; the area from 79th floor to 93rd floor is leased to one of the world’s best luxury hotel mogul, Hyatt (headquartered in the US); the area from 7th floor to 77th floor is used for offices; the area from 3rd floor to 5th floor is used for conference rooms.         

Then you will explore the Bund. From East Yan’an Road in the south to the Waibaidu Bridge in the north, the Bund extends more than 1.5 kilometers. When you visit the Bund, you will see Shanghai Club, an old building in Renaissance style. It is one popular place for social meeting among British expats in Shanghai. Shanghai Club is frequently discussed for its exquisite design. Notably, there is a peculiar elevator on the right side of the central hall. Different from conventional elevators, the elevator, which is in an unusual shape of triangle, is quite small and can only accommodate at most four people. This unusual elevator has been running for more than 100 years. Standing in this ancient triangular elevator car, you may feel that you were in a time machine.  

The last stop this afternoon will be Nanjing Road, one of the busiest shopping street in the world. Stretching about 5.5 kilometers, Nanjing Road accommodates a wide collection of stores, offering all but every kind of products, such as food, clothes and electronic products. In the western part of Nanjing Road, you will see a splendid, old-fashioned building called Park Hotel. The 84-meter-high building was once the tallest building in this area in the 1930s. And it was also the first tall building solely funded and built by Chinese against the backdrop of an impoverished and war-torn China. Although Park Hotel is now overshadowed by many other buildings in Shanghai in terms of height, it, to some extent, served as the light at the end of the tunnel for China in that age of turbulence.                

the Bund

Nanjing road

After breakfast, it is time to wave goodbye to Shanghai. Your guide will help you check out and escort you to the airport, where you will take the estimated flight CA4544 11:45/14:35 to Chongqing in south western China. Upon arrival, you will meet your guide at the airport. After that, your guide will drive you to your first destination in Chongqing, Hongya Cave. Hongya Cave is composed of old-fashioned commercial streets, stilt houses, and other attractions. The stilt houses are the residences of some ethnic minorities in southern China. They are usually built against mountains or long rivers, with tall stilts as their supporting pillars. After visiting the Hongya Cave, you will head to the wharf to embark for the Yangtze River Cruise.  

Hongya Cave,

Hongya Cave

When you wake up, you can join the Taichi morning exercise on the deck. Taiji is the most popular traditional martial art in China, which is featured by slow moves and “attack by means of defense”. You are suggested to follow every single move of the well-trained Taichi master, and you may feel a bit tired after you finish playing a whole set of the seemingly easy Taichi moves. You are also suggested to post the videos of your Taichi exercise on your Instagram, and I believe your friends will lavish you with their clicks on the “heart” button.   

Then you will have a shore excursion to the Ghost City of Fengdu, a complex of temples, shrines, and monasteries. In ancient Chinese legends, the ghost city is where people’s souls will go after their death. Inside the Ghost City of Fengdu, there are many buildings and statues that represent the underworld, such as the Hengha Shrine, Tianzi Palace, Naihe Bridge and Huangquan Road. In Chinese legend, the souls of died people have to pass through the Naihe Bridge to get a new life. For good persons, after they died, their souls will pass through the Naihe Bridge safely and get their new lives. But for bad persons, their souls will suffer torture when they pass through the bridge. Every building and statue is interesting. The guide will tell you some interesting stories about these buildings and statues to help you get to know Chinese infernal culture.

After having a buffet lunch, you will have a free afternoon on the cruise.

Option: You can also decide whether to have a shore excursion to Shibao Pagoda. Situated on the north riverbank of the Yangtze River and built against a 200-meter-tall rock, Shibao Pagoda was a wooden pagoda without the use of any nails. The rock that the pagoda leans against is believed to be left by Goddess Nvwa, who allegedly patched up the broken sky with five colored rocks. And this rock here is said to be one of the five colored rocks.

In the evening, a captain welcoming party will be held for you. The captain and his crews will make a speech to welcome your visit. In particular, performances will be made during this welcoming party.   

Shibaozhai

Fengdu Ghost City

After Taichi exercise and breakfast, your cruise will pass through Qutang Gorge, the shortest but the most impressive one of the Three Gorges. Extending 8 kilometers from Baidi Mountain in the west to Daxi County in the east, the turbulent Qutang Gorge is lined with spear-like peaks and steep cliffs. Particularly, there is a peculiar section of rock wall on a mountain along the Qutang Gorge. The unique rock wall distinguishes itself by its unique pink color and thus this section of rock wall is called “Pink Wall”.    

After lunch, you will cruise through Wu Gorge. As the longest one of the Three Gorges, Wu Gorge stretches 46 kilometers from the Daning River to Badong County. On the Cuokai Peak along the Wu Gorge, you will see a semi-circular rock called Zhanlongtai, which means a platform on which a dragon was slain. There is a legend circulating around the nearby village that an apocalyptic flood was raging across the human world. The flood was so torrential that it overwhelmed plains and then inched its way up the mountains. All the people knew that the flood was made by an evil dragon, but no body dared to fight against it. At this critical moment, a strong man called Yu decided to fight against this evil dragon to protect this village. The mighty Yu slayed the dragon after 7 days’ fierce fight with it on the mountain. And the place where he fought with this dragon was called Zhanlongtai.  

Then you will travel through Xiling Gorge, the longest one of the Three Gorges with a length of 76 kilometers. There are many smaller gorges in the Xiling Gorge, and a famous one of them is Bingshu Baojian Gorge(Bingshu means ‘military book’ and Baojian means ‘precious sword’). The so-called military book refers to the ancient coffin hanging in the crack of rocks and the so-called precious sword refers to a protruding rock. Whey you see the ancient coffin and protruding rock from a distance, they seem like a military book and a precious sword. Because of this, this gorge is called Bingshu Baojian Gorge.

Qutang Gorge

Xiling Gorge

After breakfast, you will go to visit Three Gorges Dam. Boasting a height of 185 meters and a length of 3,335 meters, the Three Gorges Dam is the largest dam throughout Chinese history and also the largest power station in the world, as evidenced by its 100 billion kWh generated electricity annually. It is not only a spectacular attraction for tourists, but also a vital project for China’s electric power supply. After your visit, you will take a shuttle bus to Yichang Tourist Center, where your guide will pick you up and escort you to the airport.       

The Three Gorges Dam

The Three Gorges Dam

Author:Yuxin Zhou

Proofreader:Yan Liu