Diane Snider Photos

This photo taken sometime in 2003 clearly shows the old steps still in use which lead up to the old city area. In the upper left of the photo you can see the beginning construction of the lower supports for the new steps which will lead up to the new city area necessarily being built higher up the mountain side to avoid the higher water level in the Yangtze River due to construction of the Three Gorges Dam. There will undoubtedly be new ramp areas built next to the new steps as they are vital so that cargo can be rolled up and down between ships below and the city above.

Construction of the Three Georges Dam has caused the water level of the Yangtze River to rise approximately 135 feet from its old level which even then caused very serious flooding almost every year. The permanent higher new water level has forced countless cities to completely demolish their waterside locations and to reconstruct new cities high on their hillside locations. The area of bare earth shown in this photo was originally covered with structures necessarily torn down yet all the rubble from such demolition has been cleared away carefully.

The Yangtze River is often traveled under a gray sky which is a surely a combination of low-lying fog in this area of huge mountains and pollution no doubt caused by the many open chutes carrying freshly dug coal down to small freighters waiting to carry this newly taken on cargo, generally uncovered, on to other ports

Working the lines on ships transiting the Panama Canal has traditionally been a job for men. However, in China women often take on such work. Here you'll notice a woman crew member (or possibly wife of the ship's owner as is often the case) readying her line as her vessel positions itself behind two others directly ahead in place at the lower depths of the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River.