Having raced out of Sichuan through the narrow Three Gorges, the
Yangzi widens, slows down, and loops through its flatter,
low-lying middle reaches, fed and swelled by lesser streams and
rivers which drain off the highlands surrounding the four provinces
of the Yangzi basin - Anhui , Hubei , Hunan
and Jiangxi . As a key route for trade and transport, the
river (known in China as the Changjiang ) has made the
region a centre of development and habitation throughout Chinese
history. In the thirteenth century, Marco Polo was overawed by the
"innumerable cities and towns along its banks, and the amount of
shipping it carries, and the bulk of merchandise that merchants
transport by it"; and while surrounding paddy fields have formed
the backbone of central China's grain and rice production since the
Ming era, a network of modern hydroelectric dams under construction
in the middle reaches are the first stage towards building a local
industrial economy to rival that of the east coast.
Visitors to the region tend to gravitate towards the Yangzi's
domineering presence, undertaking lengthy cruises between
Sichuan and Shanghai, and sightseeing along the shores of China's
two largest freshwater lakes: Dongting , which both
separates and twins Hunan and Hubei, and Poyang , in
northern Jiangxi, famed for porcelain produced at nearby
Jingdezhen . Riverside towns are also interesting working
ports and many, such as Wuhu in Anhui, are historical
centres of commerce where it's still possible to see traditional
river industries - fish farming, grain, rice and bamboo transport -
existing alongside newer ventures in manufacturing. Strangely
enough, while all four regional capitals are located near water,
only Wuhan , in Hubei, is actually on the Yangzi itself, a
privileged position which has turned the city into central China's
liveliest urban conglomeration. By contrast, the other provincial
capitals - Changsha in Hunan, Anhui's Hefei and
Jiangxi's Nanchang - seem somewhat dishevelled, though all
are more interesting than they might at first appear, with a
scattering of worthwhile sites and museums to visit.
The region's long settlement has left a good deal of
history in its wake, though most relics that have survived
the basin's many upheavals are footnotes to China's past rather
than part of a coherent narrative. While some items - Warring
States bronzework and a number of well-preserved Han-dynasty
tombs - might seem dustily academic, Ming-dynasty
architecture scattered across Anhui and Jiangxi is still
very much in use, and almost everywhere you'll stumble over sites
from the epic of the Three Kingdoms , making the tale
essential background reading. The Yangzi basin can also fairly
claim to be the cradle of modern China : Mao Zedong was born
in Hunan Province; Changsha, Wuhan and Nanchang are all closely
associated with Communist Party history; while the mountainous
border between Hunan and Jiangxi was both a Red refuge during
right-wing purges in the late 1920s and the starting point for the
subsequent Long March to Shaanxi.
Those able to pull themselves away from the river will find some
marvellous hiking through forested peaks around the regional
fringes, the pick of which is undoubtedly at Huang Shan in
southern Anhui, followed by Hubei's remote Shennongjia Forest
Reserve , and Zhangjiajie in Hunan's far west. Pilgrims
also have a wide choice of Buddhist and Taoist holy
mountains to scale on seemingly unending stone-flagged
staircases, and less dedicated souls can find eagle views at the
mountain resort town of Lu Shan in Jiangxi.
Deciding when to visit the flood-prone Yangzi basin is
vital if you plan to abandon river transport and head off across
the plains. In theory, getting around isn't a problem, with
rail lines from all over China crossing the region, and a
choice of cheap old buses and swifter, pricier minibuses
linking cities to the remotest of corners. Autumn is probably the
most pleasant time of year, though even winters are generally mild,
but the summer (June to August) is best avoided, with humidity and
near-constant rains making the region resemble a subtropical
Netherlands without the dykes. In 1954, flooding along the
Yangzi killed three million people, while in 1998, the worst floods
in living memory claimed only three thousand lives but wiped out
entire villages, isolated cities and destroyed millions of hectares
of crops.