Yichang City

October 7, 2006

After poking around the Three Gorges Dam Visitors Center for a half hour or so, we got back on the bus and heading for Yichang City. It was overcast AND polluted, so the "out of the bus window" viewing wasn't all that great. We passed a lot of farms and fields, a couple of small villages that look pretty grim, and, as we got near the city proper, a lot of smoky factories. All the small houses we saw seemed to be made out of concrete, most were unpainted, and pretty grim looking. Many didn't seem to have glass in the windows or even doors. Sha-Sha explained that the windows and exterior doors typically open onto a bare hallway and the lived-in rooms are off of that. Every bit of available land seemed given over to agriculture, canals, or dikes. Occasional clusters of burial monuments were crowded on small mounds in the fields (lower left below).

To review, Yichang City is located at the point where the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River meet and is called the "Gateway to the Three Gorges." It is one of China's leading distributing centers, an important port, and a transportation hub along the Yangtze river. It has linked western and eastern China since ancient times. In 1876, following the Second Opium War with England, Yichang was opened to foreign trade. Shipping facilities were built after that war l, but until 1949 the wharf area was only less than quarter of a mile in length. Since 1949, more than fifty wharves have been constructed at the port so that its wharf area is now over nine miles long!

Driving through the streets of Yichang gave us another look at some unpleasant older Chinese apartment units but the most startling thing we saw was the completely disorganized traffic. It was near noon and every street was jammed with pedestrians and vehicles as people scurried to get home to lunch. With absolutely no regard for rules of any kind, the traffic--- private cars, busses, taxis, bicycles, tuk-tuks (three-wheeled minicabs), and those on foot--- zigged, zagged, blasted horns, and, one would suspect, cursed as they bludgeoned their way along the tangled streets. Amazingly, there seemed to be no collisions although members of our "Gold 1" group gasped time and time again at the sight of what seemed would be an inevitable smash up.

Just before lunch, we stopped at the Chu Embroidery Factory, a place noted for the fabulous silk tapestries its workers produce. It was very interesting to see young women working on their projects and we learned that some of the larger pieces had three people working on them and could take as much as eight months to complete. Ralph found a piece he like and asked Joan what she though of it. Without hesitation, she said she didn't like it at all but simply HAD to have to one hanging next to it! So, we now own a very, very nice hand embroidered silk tapestry. (The beauty of which the photo below fails to capture!)

After the embroidery gallery visit, we went to a typical tourist restaurant: nice enough but the same old, same old--- eight chairs around a round table with a huge glass Lazy Susan filled with Chinese delicacies. We had lots and lots of choices ranging from chicken, prawns, beef, mushroom consume, a couple of kinds of dumpling-like rolls, steamed and sautéed vegetables, a corn, carrot, and pea mixture, sliced lotus root, rice, and, of course, watermelon. Although the selections were all attractive and probably quite tasty and the service outstanding, most of the members of our group had had this same meal twice a day for a week and just picked until it was time to leave.

The long drive from Yichang to Wuhan was uneventful. We cruised along the expressway at a steady 60 MPH, observing what scenery we could make out through the persistent smog layer and gathering in more information from our local guide, Sha-Sha. Actually, she went out of her way to keep us entertained. In addition facts and folklore, she organized a "Chinese Trivia" game that was a lot of fun and then amazed us with her perfect rendition of "Yesterday Once More," Karen Carpenter's hit song of the 1970's--- "When I was young I listened to the radio.... All the songs I loved so well... Every Sha-la-la-la... Every Shinga-ling-ling... When they get to the part where he's breaking her heart.... just like before, it's yesterday once more...."