More than 300 Chinese professional photographers, journalists and amateurs will go to the Three Gorges soon to record the scenery before the water storage of the world's largest water conservancy project.
The eight-day activity, sponsored by the China Photography Association and a news website, will start on February 12, China's lunar new year.
Photographers will visit the traditional local residence, a temple commemorating ancient hero Zhang Fei, Baiheliang, world's oldest hydrologic inscriptions, ancient plank roads built along cliffs, coffins suspended on cliffs, and other cultural and scenic spots.
Some of the cultural relics will be moved to new sites, and some of them will be protected underwater.
The excavation of relics at the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River, the largest-scale rescue of cultural heritage in Chinese history, has entered a critical moment at present.
In order to save the most important cultural relics before the first-stage water storage of the Three Gorges Dam in June 2003, over 1,000 archaeologists have gathered in the reservoir area, working day and night.
The archaeologists include those from over two-thirds of China' s cultural relics institutes, research organs, universities and departments which are qualified to conduct excavation.
(People’s Daily January 19, 2002)