Lóngmén yī xiá, Bāwù yī xiá, Dīcuì yī xiá; xuánguān zài bì, wūpéng zài shuǐ. — Dragon Gate one gorge, Ba Wu one gorge, Dripping Green one gorge; hanging coffins on the cliff, wooden skiffs on the water.
The Lesser Three Gorges (巫山小三峡—小小三峡, Wūshān Xiǎosānxiá) are a 5A-rated (May 2007) cruise on the Daning River, a Yangtze tributary entering from the south at Ningjiang Road 111, Gaotang Street — three gorges in sequence: Dragon Gate, Ba Wu and Dripping Green (龙门峡、巴雾峡、滴翠峡), each narrower and quieter than the last. The ticket (120 yuan in both seasons) covers the main cruise, and at the end of the run passengers transfer into small wooden umbrellas — 乌篷船 — for the “lesser lesser” extension into the gorges’ innermost reach. It is the county’s headline product and, for many visitors, the whole reason Wushan appears on the itinerary.
The Daning cuts through the same limestone that makes the Yangtze gorges famous, but on a scale that fits a single morning: the walls are just as vertical, the water just as green, and the river narrow enough that the boat seems to scrape. The sequence is the design — Dragon Gate opens with the gorge walls’ first close; Ba Wu runs deep and holds the wildlife; Dripping Green is the longest and the prettiest, its name describing the colour the water takes under the overhanging growth. The hanging coffins (悬棺) placed high in the cliff ledges are the region’s oldest surviving signature, a Bronze Age burial custom of the gorge peoples.
Book the first boat. The 09:00 departure is the one locals and photographers want, because the morning mist sits in the gorges at that hour and burns off later — the same water, two different photographs. Ba Wu gorge holds wild macaques (野生猕猴), visible from the boat in the early hours. The umbrella-boat transfer is included in the flow, not an upsell, and the crew rows the final reach where the cruise ship cannot follow. Wear a layer: the gorge runs cool and shaded even in August.
flowcloud would say that Chongqing’s great gorges are the headline and the lesser ones are the footnote — and that the footnote is where you actually hear the water.
Practicalities
- Rating: 5A (graded May 2007)
- Tickets: 120 yuan in both peak and off-season
- Address: No. 111 Ningjiang Road, Gaotang Street; boats run from the county-seat wharves to the Daning mouth
- Getting there: the wharf is in the county seat, minutes from the hotels; the high-speed rail station is a short taxi ride away (checked October 2026, subject to change)
- Time needed: about half a day for the full run including the umbrella boats; the 09:00 boat is the mist boat
Words and Names
小三峡 Xiǎosānxiá — the Lesser Three Gorges, the Daning River cruise · 龙门峡 Lóngmén Xiá — Dragon Gate Gorge, the first of the three · 巴雾峡 Bāwù Xiá — Ba Wu Gorge, the macaque reach · 滴翠峡 Dīcuì Xiá — Dripping Green Gorge, the longest and greenest · 悬棺 xuánguān — hanging coffins, the cliff-ledges burials · 乌篷船 wūpéng chuán — the black-umbrella skiff of the lesser-lesser extension · 大宁河 Dàníng Hé — the Daning River, the cruise’s waterway