Polar Code of the World: From the Source of the Yangtze River to the North Pole

Author: Wang Yongchen
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-08-01
Features: If you compare the experience of exploring the Arctic with this trip to the source of the Yangtze River, although both took place in nature, I seemed to be living in a primitive state during that time, while this time, I was traveling through a modernized society. Or perhaps, that time was living in the past, and this time is living in the future.
In 1998, I joined the Chinese Women's Yangtze River Source Scientific Exploration and Rafting Team for an interview. Upon entering the source of the Yangtze River, I asked every team member: What do you imagine the source of the Yangtze River to be like? Some said the water is crystal clear! Others said the glaciers are incredibly magnificent! Some believed it must be very mysterious and quiet, while others thought it might be like a woman giving birth—both tender and painful. As we gradually approached the Jianggudiru Glacier, the source of the Yangtze River, we felt that it truly could be described as a museum of glaciers. There were variously shaped "ice sculptures," glaciers connected one after another—each a masterpiece of nature's creativity.