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 Risk Assessment Rafting Team for an interview. Upon entering the source of the Yangtze River, I asked every team member: What is the Yangtze River source like in your mind? Some said the water was incredibly clear! Others said the glaciers were incredibly magnificent! Some believed it must be very mysterious in silence, while others thought it might resemble a woman in labor—both serene and painful. As we gradually approached the Jiangguduiluo Glacier, the source of the Yangtze River, we felt it truly could be described as a museum of glaciers. Various ice sculptures in different shapes, glaciers connected one after another—these were all masterpieces of nature's creativity.