A River, a Dam and A Hawthorn Tree
By Isabel Schwartz
The Three Gorges Dam and its five-stage ship lock in Yichang, central China’s Hubei Province, on June 1
T he Three Gorges area on the middle reaches of the Yangtze River is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful and exciting places in China, and the perfect destination to admire China’s natural and manmade marvels. In May, I followed my inner siren call and visited the area on a sunny weekend with my boyfriend.
We took a cruise on the Yangtze. The ship was swarming with domestic tourists and several foreigners, many of us leaning over the railings in awe. I had booked seats on the top deck, and we were not disappointed as the panorama of the Xiling Gorge passed us by along with the lush vegetation on the hills and teal waters of the Yangtze.
The Three Gorges refer to the Qutang,Wuxia and Xiling gorges. From Yichang in central China’s Hubei Province, our ship sailed through the Xiling Gorge and to the Three Gorges Dam for several hours. The dam was built for flood control and power generation and to facilitate shipping. It is the world’s largest hydroelectric station in terms of generating capacity.
One hundred years ago, in 1919, Dr.Sun Yat-sen first hatched the idea of a Three Gorges dam. However, the construction of the dam didn’t start until 1994. We saw footage of workers constructing the dam and leaders giving speeches to mark milestones in its construction on the ship.My boyfriend told me it had been a dream in his youth to see the completed dam, the construction of which was reported on TV at the time.
Today, there is a five-stage ship lock through which ships can pass in about four hours. The ship lift, which we took on our cruise, can handle a 3,000-ton passenger ship and move it in roughly 40 minutes.
Bailihuang, which advertises itself as“alpine grasslands” in south China, has become famous among tourists because Zhang shot some scenes from his movie,which is based on a true love story immortalized in a book by Ai Mi, here back in 2010. The famous 30-something-year-old hawthorn tree that was “cast” in the movie set in the 1970s now sees quite a few tourists wielding selfie sticks on a daily basis and is surrounded by a fence for preservation purposes. According to Zhang, he did a lot of searching before he found his perfect hawthorn tree.
The Three Gorges Dam is a very famous place in China, but I combined it with a less known jewel on my itinerary—Bailihuang.When we booked a guided tour there at a travel agency next to the Yichang Railway Station, the agent smiled when he learned I was from the United States and had come all the way to see the famous hawthorn tree in Bailihuang from Zhang Yimou’s film Under the Hawthorn Tree.
Shortly after passing the dam, we disembarked and went by bus to Tanziling Ridge, the first scenic site in the construction area that was opened to the public in 1997. From there we had a wonderful panoramic view of the dam. When I looked at it, I could understand why it was referred to as China’s pride in the ship’s video, and of course with the Belt and Road Initiative that was proposed in 2013, the importance of infrastructure makes the dam a very timely engineering feat. The completed dam is described as a “dragon locking the river” in my guide book.
自2011年以来，上海市重点以脑卒中为切入口，着力体系整合、流程再造和模式完善，结合上海市政府公共卫生三年行动计划和医改等工作，由华山医院牵头组织“上海市脑卒中预防与救治服务体系”建设。
2)户用沼气池全生命周期的环境影响评价是研究沼气生产过程对环境的负荷进行评价的客观过程，重点研究了沼气池全生命周期对环境的负面影响，对于使用沼气所取得的环境生态效益在该研究中没有提及，因此没有在文中讨论沼气替代电、液化气、煤碳的温室气体减排效益；在讨论沼气经济效益的这一部分时，由于农村户用沼气CDM项目还很少,因此也仅考虑了所产沼气燃烧所带来的能源替代效益和沼气发酵残余物沼渣沼液的肥料替代效益，没有考虑在国际市场出售沼气替代电、液化气、煤碳的温室气体可以获得的额外资金收益。
目前临床多建议应用胺碘酮抗室性心率失常，本研究对照组在常规治疗的基础上加用该药物，4周后已有70.73%能够维持窦性心律，且随着治疗时间的延长，该比例呈上升趋势。有研究提示，胺碘酮对慢性心力衰竭伴心律失常患者有一定应用价值［6-7］，但有部分患者疗效仍不理想，提示仍需探寻更可靠的治疗方案。
My boyfriend and I spent about an hour sitting behind the tree on a knoll admiring it, instead of in front of it where tourists were crowded. It was the perfect season to visit, with the tree in full bloom. Birds alighted on the tree and bees buzzed around the white flowers with their heavy fragrance.As opposed to the film, where it is referred to as the “hero’s tree” with red flowers, the actual tree has white flowers.
All in all, it was a surprisingly delightful weekend spent between a river, a dam and a hawthorn tree.
The author is an American living in Beijing Copyedited by Rebeca Toledo Comments to dingying@bjreview.com
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