The 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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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