Rising water lifts all boats, crossing two dams and a gorge

Stop 58: Yichang In 1919, Mr. Sun Yat-sen proposed the vision of building a dam in the Three Gorges. Later, the great leader Chairman Mao expressed in "Shuidiao Getou • Swimming": "Build stone walls on the west river, cut off the clouds and rain of Wushan, and create a flat lake from the high gorge." Thus, this century-long grand plan was realized bit by bit through the joint efforts of generations of Chinese people. When the Three Gorges Dam, over a hundred meters high, appeared before our eyes, shock and pride filled the hearts of every Chinese person... P2: Zhenjiang Pavilion, guarding the Yangtze River alongside the Natural Tower in Yichang, blesses the local fishermen with safety. This ancient-style building lights up beautifully at night and is the main core area of the riverside light show, making it the perfect spot to cool off and enjoy the river view. P3, P4: Gezhouba Dam, the experimental project for the Three Gorges Dam, features three ship locks that have become familiar from textbooks, carrying the memories of a generation. This great engineering feat, based on the principle of communicating vessels, laid a solid foundation for the later Three Gorges Dam project. P5, P6: Three Gorges People, officially entering Xiling Gorge through Gezhouba, boasts uniquely beautiful scenery. Hanging coffins are deeply embedded in the granite gorge walls. The massive task of transporting coffins remains complex even with today's advanced technology. The wisdom of the ancients continues to amaze modern people. P7, P8, P9: Three Gorges Dam, as the cruise ship enters the ship lift with a hundred-meter drop, it reaches the most exciting part of this journey. The cruise ship, like a gentle shell, slowly slides into the embrace of the steel giant. On both sides are hundred-meter-high stone walls, as if the gates of heaven have opened. You hardly feel any movement; only the huge gate walls outside the window silently descend. The once noisy river sounds suddenly fall into complete silence—we, both people and ship, are floating in a giant water bowl, gently lifted and lowered by the entire mountain range. This is not sailing; it’s like riding an elevator inside a mountain. When the gates open again, behind us is the high gorge and flat lake, and ahead is another river scene. This hundred-meter drop passes so calmly and steadily. Human wisdom has transformed the great feat of moving mountains and changing waters into a silent ceremony. From then on, this dream was no longer just ink on paper. It became the specimen box on the shoulders of geologists, the sleepless light on engineers’ desks, and the youth poured into concrete by a hundred thousand builders. The river flows east day and night, while the figures on the shore have changed through three generations. They cover their predecessors’ fingerprints with their own and continue the interrupted footsteps until the silver-gray dam rises along the riverbank like a standing history book, with every expansion joint hiding pages of thirty years of journey. When I finally stood atop the 185-meter-high dam, the long wind came from Kuimen, fluttering my clothes like a flag. Beneath my feet was the tamed river flow, behind me the vast lake surface. Indeed, the clouds and rain of Wushan can be cut into two parts—one part transformed into the light flowing through the power station, the other into the five-level steps climbed by ships. At that moment, words were unnecessary; thousands of emotions gathered into a deep pool in my chest—we have used a century’s length to forge our ancestors’ imagination into tangible mountains and rivers. A century’s plan, a national treasure, speaks louder than a thousand words.