Cultural Remains from the Changjiang Three Gorges Region

【Introduction】

The relative isolation of the Three Gorges due to complexity of terrain and difficulty of communications ensured a comparative absence of major upheal and calamity during the historical period. As a result, the region enjoyed extended periods of stable development, and, moreover, was blessed with unusually favorable conditions for the preservation of cultural relics. According to the surveys carried out co-ordinate with the Three Gorges Dam Project, there are over eight hundred localities with cultural relics below ground that will be either submerged or otherwise affected by the reservoir. These remains buries below the surface consist mostly of sites and tombs spanning a range from the Palaeolithic to the Ming and Qing Periods. The sites are highly diverse in nature and include examples of settlements belonging to agricultural and fishing communities, walled towns and regional centers of administration, industrial sites such as salt wells and kilns, ancestral temples and other centers of religious activity, staging posts and trade routes, and defensive structures and fortified passes at strategic locations. These various remains of all dates and types constitute the unbroken historical record of the Three Gorges region, and express to us the distinctive and ancient charm of the region. And express to us the distinctive and ancient charm of the region.