[ { "id": 204659, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1963", "page_number": 140, "title": "RAS-1963", "content_text": "126\n\nA. D. BLUE\n\nCompany's second steamer Shu-hun, a larger and more powerful steamer than their Shuting, which was built by Yarrow's in 1913. It was not until the 1930's, however, that the majority of Upper River steamers were able to do the whole trip unaided.\n\nA unique feature of the Upper Yangtse was the trackers' paths cut in the hillside above the rapids, at some places as high as 30 or 40 feet above the river level. At the most dangerous rapids the junks were lightened of their passengers and most of their cargo, only a few men staying on board with the pilot to work the bow sweep and pole. The negotiation of the rapids required great skill on the part of the pilots, and instant obedience and co-operation from the junkmen and trackers, and it might take an hour or more of unremitting exertion to pull a junk up the worst 200 or 300 feet of one of those rapids. The trackers and junkmen would be encouraged and stimulated by drumming, and by the antics of the headman, to which they replied by a low, monotonous chanting. Some of the gorges were too precipitous for trackers' paths, and at such places junks had to wait for a strong, favourable wind.\n\nThere were frequent accidents, many of them fatal, at the more dangerous rapids, and special large-sized sampans were stationed at such places to rescue those who came to grief. These were called \"red boats\", and it was in a sampan of this kind that Sir Reginald Johnston travelled from Ichang to Chungking in 1906. One of the most dangerous rapids was the Hsin Tan, or New Rapid, 135 miles above Ichang, which was formed by a landslide some 300 years ago. It was here that the China Navigation Company's first Upper River steamer, the Shuting, was lost in 1937. The Hsin Tan was most dangerous in the low water season; other rapids were most dangerous in the high water season.\n\nThe Yangtse Gorges provide some of the most spectacular scenery in the world. Windbox Gorge and Witches' Mountain Gorge are the most famous of the Gorges. The latter is also the longest, being 20 miles long, with the river only 150 yards wide at some places. It is also probably the most beautiful and mysterious, in an awe-inspiring manner. As in Windbox Gorge, there are places where the passenger on a river steamer has the distinct impression that the mighty and almost sheer precipices actually overhang the river in places. There are caves high up in the cliffs, and villages over 1,000 years old clinging to ledges more", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1963.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204660, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1963", "page_number": 141, "title": "RAS-1963", "content_text": "NAVIGATION ON THE YANGTSE \n\n127 \n\nthan a hundred feet above the river. The cliffs in Windbox Gorge rise to over 700 feet above the river, and it was here that in the record year the river level rose 275 feet in a short time. \n\nIn 1917, after there had been regular services operating on the river for some years, the Chinese Maritime Customs issued a series of recommendations for steamers intending to ply on the Upper River, based on the experience gained over these years. The maximum size for steamers intending to run all year round was 210 feet long by 31 feet beam and 94 feet draft, with a minimum speed of 12 knots. If they were intended to negotiate the main rapids under their own power, a speed considerably in excess of 12 knots was recommended. It was also recommended that the hull be divided into watertight compartments, and that ships should have a flat bottom. Ships over 130 feet long were recommended to have twin screws and two boilers, and if their beam was over 22 feet three rudders; all others having two rudders. Other recommendations and regulations related to steering gears, windlasses, and capstans, and illustrate the peculiar problems posed by navigation on the Upper Yangtse. By 1931 there were over a dozen special-type ships on the Upper Yangtse, half of them British, running regularly between Ichang and Chungking. Three of the others were Chinese, two American, and one French. There were also several small oil tankers. Above Chungking there were about two dozen smaller motor launches running, but in this part of the river a great part of the traffic was still handled by native craft of various types. In 1931 the American West China Shipping Company's last ship was wrecked in the Upper River, and the Dollar Company sold their last ship, the Alice Dollar, to the China Navigation Company, who renamed her the Wantung. This left British steamers predominant on the Upper River for the short time after that it remained open to foreign trade. \n\nAll ships operating on the Yangtse required pilots. On the Lower River these were mostly foreigners of the various countries which formed the Woosung-Hankow Pilots' Association. This was not a branch of the Chinese Maritime Customs, although these pilots were licensed and recognised by the Customs. On the coast and on other rivers, the Chinese Pilotage Service, which was a branch of the Customs, was the recognised authority. There was no official body of pilots on the Middle River, but there was", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1963.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207794, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1976", "page_number": 182, "title": "RAS-1976", "content_text": "LAND AND RIVER ROUTES TO WEST CHINA\n\n167\n\ngorges are the Wushan, Witches' Mountain, and Windbox Gorges, which provide some of the most spectacular and awe-inspiring river scenery in the world. There are places where the river is only 150 yards wide, where the passenger on a steamer has the feeling that the almost sheer precipices actually overhang the river. The cliffs in Windbox Gorge are 700 feet high, and it was here that the record rise in the river level of 275 feet once took place.\n\nAbove Wanhsien the valley of the river opens out, and navigation to Chungking and beyond is comparatively simple. Until the Szechwan Steam Navigation Company's second steamer, Shuhun, went into service in 1914, steamers on the Yangtze, like junks, required trackers to pull them up the most powerful rapids, and a unique feature of the Upper Yangtze was the trackers' paths cut in the hillside thirty or forty feet above the river level. At these places junks were often lightened of their cargo and passengers before negotiating the rapid.\n\nIn the year after the Swinhoe expedition the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce supported another expedition up the Yangtze and into Szechwan by the famous German explorer Baron von Richthofen. His report on Szechwan is the most important until then, being the first to include an accurate description of the famous Red Basin of Chengtu, and its legendary irrigation system. This basin, with an area of some 3,500 square miles, is the only large area of level ground in the whole province, and has a population of about six million. Its remarkable fertility is due to the irrigation system introduced by Li Ping in the third century B.C. Li led the Min River through a hill and distributed its waters over the wide plain through a network of canals.\n\nOther notable journeys in Szechwan and West China between the late 1870s and early 1900s, included those of E.C. Baber and Sir Alexander Hosie of the China Consular Service, Archibald Little of Upper Yangtze fame, and A.E. Pratt, the zoologist. Pratt's travels lasted three years from 1887 to 1890. He built his own boat at Ichang to take him through the Gorges and past Chungking to Kiating, from where he journeyed overland to the sacred Mount Omei, over 11,000 feet high. Pratt's travels deserve to be better known, as they were the first in West China to be undertaken for purely scientific purposes. He blazed the trail for the later journeys of the botanists George Forrest, Kingdon Ward, and E.H. Wilson.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207956, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1976", "page_number": 344, "title": "RAS-1976", "content_text": "Plate 22. Windbox Gorge, River Yangtze.\n\nPlate 23. China Navigation Company's s.s. \"Wantung\" and H.M.S. \"Woodcock\" in Windbox Gorge. River Yangtze.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q", "rank": 0 } ]