Yangtze River - huge landslide caused by the washing away of subjacent trees and foliage.
Landslide halts Yangtze River cruise
(Xinhua)
23:51, October 23, 2011
CHONGQING - A landslide in southwest China's Chongqing municipality blocked part of the Yangtze River's navigation route Friday, forcing the cancellation of a river cruise for multitudes of tourists, local authorities said Saturday.
The landslide happened at around 7 am Friday in Liangping township of Wushan county, said an officer with Chongqing's armed police headquarters who joined the river cleanup and helped evacuate tourists.
Although there were no casualties, the officer said cruise and ferry services from Wushan to Yichang, where the landmark Three Gorges Dam is located in the central Hubei province, were canceled, and there is no timetable as to when the route would reopen.
The county government sent a fleet of buses to transport tourists, all of whom were evacuated as of Saturday afternoon, he said.
"We were woken up and ushered off the ship at 4 am Friday," said an Internet user surnamed "beijingshaniuer" on Sina Weibo, a popular Twitter-like microblogging service. "We then spent nine hours on a bus to Yichang. It was drizzling the entire time."
A cruise along the Yangtze River remains trendy in China, particularly in spring and fall. A downstream cruise from Chongqing to Yichang takes four days, whereas the upstream cruise normally takes five days.
Source: http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90882/7624112.html
Yangtze landslide near Three Gorges Dam 'won't block river': experts
www.chinaview.cn 2009-04-07 23:36:38 Print
CHONGQING, April 7 (Xinhua) -- A landslide on a section of the bank of China's Yangtze River near the Three Gorges Dam may fall into the river but will not block it, experts said Tuesday.
Cracks had been seen in the landslide and its shape had continued to change, said Yin Yueping, deputy chief of the investigation team, deputy general engineer of China Geological Survey.
Traffic on the river will not be stopped although the landslide may fall into the river, Yin said.
The landslide will be monitored round the clock, said Zhou Shihong, deputy director of the municipal Bureau of Land and Resources.
A portion of the river's southern bank in Guling township, Yunyang County of southwest China's Chongqing Municipality broke loose from the rest of the bank since November last year, when the cofferdams of the Three Gorges Dam tried to hold water at a depth of 175 meters, Zhou said.
The dislocation had worsened since March and quickened pace in recent days, Zhou said.
The 55 people living on the sliding portion, called the Liangshuijing landslide, have been evacuated.
According to the observation center, the soil in the landslide is estimated to be 3.6 million cubic meters, covering 100,000 square meters.
Nearly 10,000 vessels pass through this section of river each year, about 300 vessels per day with 23,000 passengers per day.
Eight coastguard vessels had been working on the river and no casualties or accidents had been reported, Zhou said.
Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-04/07/content_11145630.htm
![Wushan Yangtze River Bridge in Chongqing Municipality, China.
Wushan Yangtze River Bridge
巫山长江大桥
Wushan, Chongqing, China
590 feet high / 180 meters high
1,509 foot span / 460 meter span
2005
Source: http://highestbridges.com/wiki/index.php?title=Wushan_Yangtze_River_Bridge
The Wushan Yangtze River Bridge is an arch bridge, which crosses the Yangtze River near Wushan, Chongqing, China. Completed in 2005, the 130 metres (430 ft) high arch spans 460 metres (1,510 ft) ranking it in the top ten longest arch bridges in the world.[1] The bridge is also among the highest in the world however, the reservoir created by the construction of the Three Gorges Dam has increased the height of the water below the bridge, and the full 180 metres (590 ft) clearance is no longer visible.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wushan_Yangtze_River_Bridge
One of the largest and most spectacular arch bridges ever built, the Wushan Yangtze River bridge is the second crossing of the 3 Gorges reservoir upstream of the massive dam. A gateway to the city of Wushan, millions of visitors a year pass under the bridge as they travel up through the famous 3 Gorges region of the Yangtze River.
A half through arch with a main span of 1,509 feet (460 meters), Wushan ranks 7th among the world’s longest span arch bridges. The main arch was constructed using the stayed cantilever method whereby a tower is erected on either side of the gorge and cables temporarily radiate out from it to support individual sections of the arch until the two halves can be joined in the middle. A cable high line between the tops of the two towers was used to move the steel sections into place high above the river. Once the arch was closed, concrete was pumped into the 8 main ribs of the arch span, stiffening and strengthening the entire structure.
If you are traveling through the 3 Gorges region, I highly recommend you visit the bridge by disembarking your boat at the dock in Wushan and hiring a taxi driver to take you to the bridge. Plan on a one hour round trip drive to the bridge plus another hour to photograph it and take a stroll across. Just be sure to get back to the dock in time for the last boat!
A beautiful scene of the bridge being lit up at night can be seen in the excellent 2005 Chinese movie Still Life which chronicles a man’s journey to find his wife. Photographed in and around the cities of Wushan and Fengjie when they were being rebuilt to accommodate the rising reservoir, the film has a slow, lingering pace that captures a world that is sometimes so real it seems almost surreal. It won the Golden Lion award at the Venice Film festival. It is available for rental on Netflix.
Source: http://highestbridges.com/wiki/index.php?title=Wushan_Yangtze_River_Bridge](https://photos.smugmug.com/Travel/China-2013/Yantze-River-Cruise/i-WrJSRQZ/0/b03987e0/S/_DSC1345-S.jpg)
