Simon Foster - CHINA's Three Gorges & Xi'an

Shaanxi Wenyuan, 45 Xi Dajie (tel.029-8310-3000). A little west of the Bell and Drum Hotel, the Wenyuan is a new place, with comfortable, well-appointed rooms and helpful staff. @ $$-$$$

Where to Eat

Xi'an is renowned for its jiaozi (dumplings) and these are a must, whether you make your own (see Adventures ), go to a simple canteen or enjoy a full-blown banquet – for the latter try Defachang. Or, if you want to accompany your feast with some entertainment, the Tang Dynasty Show$$$$$ should fit. The Muslim markets on Beiyuanmenoffer a host of eating options, from tasty beef ($0.5 each) and lamb skewers ($1 each) to flatbreads, tasty desserts and sweets. If you need some Western food, there are a few McDonalds, KFCs and Pizza Huts, along with the city's first Starbucks and a number of backpacker cafés, which are mostly in the hostels.

Defachang, next to the Bell and Drum Hotel (tel.029-8721-4060; daily 9:30 am-9:30 pm). This specialty restaurant serves more kinds of dumplings than you ever imagined possible. The canteen downstairs has simple but tasty jiaozi for as little as $6 per plate of 15 but, for more choice and style, head upstairs to the second floor where banquet options start at $80 per person. That buys you an assortment of 16 different kinds of dumpling. If you've come in a group you might want to think about the private rooms on the third floor. $-$$$$$

See Travel & Living Information, Food & Drink, for an explanation of restaurant price codes.

Hui Fang, Beiyuan Lu (daily 11 am-late). In the heart of the Muslim markets, this place serves the standard skewer and flatbread fare and has an English menu to boot.

Le Chinois, Sofitel Hotel, 319 Dongxin Jie (tel.029-8792-8888 ext. 4688; daily 10 am-2 pm & 5-9:30 pm). This refined restaurant is one of the best in the city, specializing in delicious Cantonese dishes, but they also serve a good assortment of other regional delicacies. $$$$

May First, 351 Dong Dajie (daily 7:30 am-10 pm). May First is a busy canteen-style restaurant outside the hotel of the same name. It offers a host of local specialties including baozi and meat skewers. $-$$

Shaanxi Local Fast Food Restaurant, 298 Dong Dajie (daily 11 am-9 pm). This clean but characterless canteen has inexpensive local specialty dishes served in its daily buffet. $

Tong Sheng Xiang, next to the Bell and Drum Hotel (daily 8 am-10 pm), Opposite Defachang, this Muslim restaurant serves delicious baked breads, along with lamb and beef in comfortable surroundings. $$-$$$

Nightlife

While nowhere near as diverse as the big cities of Beijing and Shanghai, Xi'an's blend of students and tourists makes for a fun night scene and there are plenty of bars, clubs and pubs where you can drink and dance to your heart's content. Defuxiang Bar Streethas a number of bars – just take a stroll and see which one takes your fancy. Tribe Baris cozily fitted out, while farther south the Showtime Barfits its name and is a place to be seen. For a less pretentious but more fun drink, most of the restaurants and canteens in the Muslim marketsare happy to serve you just beer (chances are you'll get hungry and order some food later anyway). If they let you put your seats outside, you'll have a fine vantage point from which to watch the crowds milling about. Xi'an also has a few thronging nightclubs – 1+1on Dong Dajie is a popular spot.

The Three Gorges

The Yangzi is China's greatest river and the Three Gorges are one of its most stunning stretches, steeped in myth and legend, and, until recently, notoriously dangerous and difficult to navigate. All this is set to change with the completion of the Three Gorges Dam, the largest in the world, which it is hoped will dramatically reduce the catastrophic effect of flooding, as well as generate an enormous amount of electricity. The project is due for completion in 2009 and, despite staunch opposition regarding its environmental and social consequences and setbacks in its construction, it looks as if it will, if anything, be finished ahead of schedule. As a result of the predicted impact of the dam, the race to see the Three Gorges is on and a cruise along the Yangzi is one of the country's premier attractions. The Three Gorges are best (and most easily) appreciated heading downstream and thus are dealt with in this order, starting with Chongqing, then the cruise along the Yangzi, and finally Yichang, where you can take a plane or train to your next destination.

History

As the country's primary waterway, the Yangzi basin has been settled for a long time and remains date the first human habitation along the Yangzi to over 20,000 year ago. Many of the battles of the fractious Three Kingdoms Period(220-581 AD) were fought out on this land and are recollected in the 14th-century work, Romance of the Three Kingdoms . Heroes of this time, such as Liu Bei, are remembered by temples along the Yangzi which can still be visited to this day.

Despite its treacherous waters, the Yangzi has long played a fundamental role in China's internal transport network. While road, rail and air have superseded the river as primary passenger routes, the Yangzi remains important for shipping freight, and the Three Gorges are one of the country's biggest tourist earners.

The completion of the Three Gorges Damwill change the river and life along it forever but, while industry and transport are certain to benefit, millions of people have been displaced, environmental disasters loom and the dam's effectiveness as a flood prevention measure for the whole region is in question. Furthermore, many of the unexcavated treasures of the river are certain to be lost forever and it remains to be seen whether the Three Gorges will maintain their allure when they become part of China's largest lake in 2009.

Chongqing

Chongqing is a big, bustling and mountainous city of 31 million, located at the confluence of the Yangziand Jialing rivers. It serves as the industrial powerhouse of inland China and is renowned as one of China's "Three Furnaces"(the others are Wuhan and Nanjing, both on the Yangzi) – because of its stifling summer heat and humidity. While the city isn't without character, this climatic reputation is well-deserved, and most visitors spend just a few hours here before departing downstream on a cruise boat through the Three Gorges. However, if you do end up spending more time here, you will find the streets lined with fiery hotpot restaurantsand steep, narrow alleys alive with local flavor. There are also a few historic sights and points of interest in and around the city, most notably the new Three Gorges Museumand the Luohan Temple, as well as the exquisite Buddhist cave carvings two hours away at Dazu.

History

Chongqing's location on the life-giving and -taking Yangzi has seen it settled since the Paleolithicera, and densely populated villages existed in Neolithictimes, but it first rose to prominence with Ba culture, around 1000 BC. The city was given its current name, Chongqing(which means “Double Celebration"), by the emperor Zhao Jiezhong and remained a stronghold against Mongol rule well after they had taken control of the rest of the country. In more recent times Chongqing was ceded as a treaty port to the British and Japanese in the 19th century and was used as the headquarters of the KMTafter they were ousted from Nanjing by the invading Japanese. During World War II Chongqing played a crucial role as the drop zone for the resupply of Allied-Nationalist forces against the Japanese. US General Stilwell was a key figure in the joint effort until the alliance with the Nationalists failed in 1944, but much of the city was heavily bombarded by the Japanese and little of Chongqing's long history remains intact.