begins. So, in dealing with the improvement of the Upper Yangtze, I will begin at Hankow. At present the Upper Yangtze is navigable for shallow draught steamers up to Kiating, a point about 1,100 miles above Hankow by river. If improvement be made farther on, than shallow draught steamers could navigate right up to Chengtu, the capital of Szechuen province, and the center of the richest plain in West China, about sixty miles up the Min River.
To improve the Upper Yangtze from Hankow to Yochow, the work is much similar to that of the lower part. The channel should be regulated by rudimental dikes. The concave embankments in sharp bends should be protected by stone or concrete; obstacles in midstream should be removed. The great loop, called the Farmer Bend, above Kinkow, should be cut through at the neck of Paichow, and the sharp point of Hanchin Kwang should be cut away to make the curve of the river more gentle.
The tortuous part of the Yangtze, north of the Tungting Lake, between Kinho Kow and Skipper Point, should be blocked up altogether and a new channel made through Tungting Lake, returning to the Yangtze by the Yochow Channel. This avoids the crooked passage and shortens the river course considerably. From Skipper Point to Ichang the dilatations should be restricted by dikes of stone or piling, and some sharp points of the shores should be cut away to make the curves more gentle.
The Yangtze River above Ichang enters the Gorges
