Yangtze River

A dramatic canyon praised by Ouyang Xiu and Su Shi, where legend says a celestial ox carved the gorge.

The dramatic western entrance to the Three Gorges, famously depicted on China's 10-yuan banknote.

The most poetic of Wu Gorge's twelve peaks, legendary guardian maiden standing above misty swirling river clouds.

Named for its steep stance over the Yangtze, the hill carries Ganlu Temple and Duojing Tower, and it was here that Xin Qiji, as prefect of Zhenjiang, wrote his lyrics on Beigu Pavilion.

Facing each other across the Yangtze like the two leaves of a gate, the East and West Liang hills are the Tianmen of Li Bai's quatrain.

Birthplace and shrine of Qu Yuan overlooking Xiling Gorge, the cradle of Chu poetry and patriotic spirit.

Where the mighty river makes an abrupt 100-degree U-turn from southward flow to north, shaping China's geography.

Running 193 km along the Yangtze from Baidicheng in Fengjie to Nanjinguan near Yichang, the Qutang, Wu and Xiling gorges form one continuous canyon system.

The legendary Yangtze riverside battlefield where the Battle of Red Cliffs unfolded in 208 CE, featuring cliff carvings and shrines.

The celebrated Literary Red Cliffs where Su Shi composed the immortal Rhapsodies on the Red Cliffs during his Huangzhou exile in 1082 CE.

After his defeat at Yiling, Liu Bei of Shu Han retreated to Baidicheng, where he entrusted his son and the realm to Zhuge Liang on his deathbed.

A legendary cliff cave where Tang and Song literary giants carved poems overlooking deep gorge waters.

One of the Three Great Towers south of the Yangtze, sung by Cui Hao and Li Bai; the present tower was rebuilt on Snake Hill in 1985, about a kilometre from its old site.

Sun and Liu join forces, fire sweeps Cao's fleet, and the three-way division of the realm is set.

The Great River flows east, its waves washing away all heroic figures across millennia. West of the ancient ramparts, men say, lies the Red Cliff of Master Zhou of the Three Kingdoms. With feather fan and silk cap, amid chatting and laughing, masts and oars dissolved into smoke and ashes.

Lodging like mayflies between heaven and earth, tiny as a single grain in the vast ocean. Lamenting the transience of our brief life, envying the unending flow of the Great Yangtze. Only the clear breeze over the river and the bright moon among mountains: when ear hears it, it becomes sound; when eye meets it, it becomes color. Taking without prohibition, using without exhaustion—this is the boundless inexhaustible treasury of the Creator.

The river surged with audible currents, the sheer bluffs rose a thousand feet; the mountains loomed high beneath a diminutive moon, and as the waters receded, jagged rocks emerged. How brief the passage of days and months, yet the landscape is transformed beyond recognition!

A broken halberd buried in the sand, its iron unconsumed; washed and polished, it reveals an ancient dynasty. Had the east wind not favored Master Zhou, spring in the Bronze Sparrow Tower would have locked away the Two Qiaos.

Crag upon crag hides the sky and the sun; three cries of the gibbon and tears soak my robe.

As the sun sets, where is my home village? Mist and waves on the river make one sorrow.

The far shadow of his lone sail fades into the blue void; I see only the Long River flowing to the edge of the sky.

Among the world's heroes, who was his match? Cao and Liu. A son should be like Sun Zhongmou.

Across eternal rivers and mountains, where can one find hero Sun Quan? Recall those bygone days: golden lances and armored steeds, swallowing ten thousand leagues like a tiger! Who will ask: General Lian Po has grown old—can he still eat his fill?

Green mountains on both banks stand out facing each other; a single lone sail comes from beside the sun.

Wrote of Ancient Battlefield of the Red Cliffs in “Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government: The Battle of Red Cliff”. Northern Song historian and statesman who compiled the Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government and, as chief minister, repealed Wang Anshi's new laws

Wrote of Dongpo Chibi in Huanggang in “Nian Nu Jiao · Memories of the Red Cliffs”; Wrote of Dongpo Chibi in Huanggang in “First Rhapsody on the Red Cliff”; Wrote of Dongpo Chibi in Huanggang in “Latter Rhapsody on the Red Cliff”. Northern Song writer, calligrapher and official, exiled to Huangzhou after the Crow Terrace poetry trial and later to Huizhou and Hainan

Wrote “Red Cliff” at Dongpo Chibi in Huanggang. Late Tang poet and grandson of the chancellor Du You, author of the Epang Palace Rhapsody, paired with Li Shangyin as the Lesser Li and Du

Wrote of Three Gorges of the Yangtze in “Commentary on the Water Classic: The Three Gorges”. Northern Wei official from Fanyang who wrote the Commentary on the Water Classic and was killed by Xiao Baoyin while on a mission to the west in 527

Wrote of Yellow Crane Tower in Wuhan in “Yellow Crane Tower”. High Tang poet from Bianzhou whose regulated verse on Yellow Crane Tower Yan Yu ranked first among all Tang poems of that form

Wrote “Seeing Off Meng Haoran to Guangling at Yellow Crane Tower” at Yellow Crane Tower in Wuhan; Wrote of Tianmen Hills (East and West Liang Hills) in “Gazing at Tianmen Mountain”. High Tang poet who served briefly in the Hanlin Academy, was banished to Yelang for joining Prince Yong, and was hailed by He Zhizhang as a banished immortal

Wrote of Beigu Hill in Zhenjiang in “Tune: Nanxiang Zi — Thoughts on Climbing Beigu Pavilion at Jingkou”; Wrote “Yong Yu Le (Meditation on the Past at Beigu Pavilion in Jingkou)” at Beigu Hill in Zhenjiang. Southern Song ci poet and commander who raised troops under Jin rule as a young man, came south, and left more than six hundred lyrics

Part of Yangtze River's history: Battle of Red Cliffs. Eastern Han chancellor who reunified the north from his base at Xu, laid the foundations of Cao Wei, and wrote yuefu poems such as Short Song

Part of Yangtze River's history: Battle of Red Cliffs. Wu commander from Lujiang who, with Cheng Pu, led the allied forces that burned Cao Cao's fleet at Red Cliffs in 208

Part of Yangtze River's history: Battle of Red Cliffs; Part of Yangtze River's history: Three Kingdoms Divide; Part of Yangtze River's history: Battle of Yiling; Part of Yangtze River's history: Zhuge Liang Southern Campaign. Shu Han chancellor who planned the alliance with Sun Quan, governed for Liu Bei's heir, and led repeated northern campaigns against Wei

Part of Yangtze River's history: Battle of Red Cliffs; Part of Yangtze River's history: Three Kingdoms Divide; Part of Yangtze River's history: Battle of Yiling; Part of Yangtze River's history: Zhuge Liang Southern Campaign. Founder of Shu Han, a distant Han kinsman who won Zhuge Liang's service, took Yizhou and proclaimed himself emperor at Chengdu in 221

Part of Yangtze River's history: Battle of Red Cliffs; Part of Yangtze River's history: Three Kingdoms Divide; Part of Yangtze River's history: Battle of Yiling. Founder of the state of Wu who took over his brother's command in the lower Yangzi, allied with Liu Bei at Red Cliff, seized Jing province and later proclaimed himself emperor

Part of Yangtze River's history: Three Kingdoms Divide. Cao Wei general and regent who held off Zhuge Liang's northern campaigns and seized power in the Gaopingling coup of 249, laying the ground for his grandson's Jin dynasty

Part of Yangtze River's history: Three Kingdoms Divide. First emperor of Cao Wei, who accepted the Han abdication in 220, adopted the nine-rank system and wrote the critical essay Discourse on Literature

Part of Yangtze River's history: Battle of Yiling. Wu general and chancellor who helped take Jing province from Guan Yu, burned Liu Bei's camps at Yiling in 222 and defeated Cao Xiu at Shiting

Part of Yangtze River's history: Battle of Yiling. General under Liu Bei who killed Yan Liang at Baima and destroyed Cao Cao's relief armies at Fan, before Sun Quan's forces seized Jingzhou and executed him

Part of Yangtze River's history: Zhuge Liang Southern Campaign. Shu Han officer and brother of Ma Liang whom Zhuge Liang trusted with the vanguard in 228, and whose defeat by Zhang He at Jieting wrecked the first northern campaign

Part of Yangtze River's history: Zhuge Liang Southern Campaign. Southern regional leader who submitted to Zhuge Liang and served with distinction in the Shu Han government.

The Yu Gong chapter records ‘the Min Mountains conduct the river; eastward it branches as the Tuo,’ preserving an early geographic account of the Yangtze system.

Battle of Red Cliffs

The Sun-Liu alliance used a fire attack to defeat Cao Cao's river fleet, checking his southern advance and reshaping the Yangtze power balance.

In 208 the alliance of Sun Quan and Liu Bei used a fire attack at Red Cliffs to defeat Cao Cao's fleet, checking his advance and helping establish the later Three Kingdoms rivalry.

Three Kingdoms Divide

Cao Pi founded Wei, Liu Bei founded Shu Han, and Sun Quan ruled Wu as three courts contested Jingzhou, Hanzhong, and the frontier.

Battle of Yiling

Burning connected encampments along the Yangtze, finalizing the tripartite borders of the Three Kingdoms.

In 223, while gravely ill at Baidicheng, Liu Bei entrusted Zhuge Liang with the future of Shu Han.

Zhuge Liang Southern Campaign

Winning hearts through seven captures of Meng Huo, integrating the Southwest into the imperial fold.

In 759, Li Bai was pardoned at Baidi while traveling into exile and wrote 'Departing from Baidi at Dawn' as he sailed east.

In the seventh and tenth months of 1082, while exiled at Huangzhou, Su Shi made two excursions to Red Cliff and wrote the Former and Latter Red Cliff Rhapsodies.