Navigating Tiger Leaping Gorge in China
Posted: Monday, May 21, 2007 12:24 PM
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Beijing, China
By Adrienne Mong, NBC News producer
Near Lijiang, China -- It’s no surprise that in a country as vast as China there are all kinds of drivers. But it has been a pleasant discovery how many are actually quite skilled in this rapidly modernizing society, where 18 years ago the few drivers that existed would turn off their engines whenever they stopped at a traffic light.
Back then, the best driver I knew here was Xiao Lu, a wiry chain-smoker and personal chauffeur to a former Bank of China vice-chairman in Tianjin. Xiao Lu was a demon on the road, fearless of the millions of bicyclists who swarmed around us. He was also awfully proud of his burgundy Santana -- one of the first Volkswagen-China joint venture models to roll off the factory floor.
The driver for NBC News in Beijing, Mr.Guan, has been with working with the bureau for eight years. A diminutive man four years short of China’s optional retirement age of 60 (65 is the mandatory retirement age for Chinese males), he loves to hum while he works and dance a little soft-shoe when he’s not. He grew up in the Chinese capital and likes to point out his former childhood haunts as we navigate the city. He’s also a very good driver.
When we travelled around Yunnan province, we hired Mr. Mao, a native from a village near Lijiang. Of a sweet disposition and bearing a ruddy complexion that comes from living at high altitude, Mr Mao also had a strangely vacant expression whenever we tried to instruct him to stay with the car in case anyone tried to break in to steal our camera equipment. He was, however, a conscientious driver, rarely allowing the speedometer of his “bread car” (what the Chinese call vans because their shape resembles a bread loaf) to inch above 40 miles an hour.
But the driver that won my admiration most recently was Mr. Yang, a slender man of indeterminate age. We were introduced to him by an off-beat café owner who promised he could take us up to one of the lookout points atop Tiger Leaping Gorge.
Navigating China’s deepest gorge
Tiger Leaping Gorge is believed to be the world’s deepest gorge, measuring some 10,000 feet deep, between the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and the Haba Mountain in Yunnan, and running only nine miles long.
Its narrowest point is only about 100 feet, hence the name -- it’s believed a tiger once escaped a hunter by jumping over the rushing Yangtze River below, from one mountain range to the other. We had just four hours to make our way to the top, film a bit of the landscape, and get back down to continue our journey toward the Sichuan border.
At first, Yang drove a hard bargain, citing the tough road conditions. But as with other haggling cultures, you never accept the first offer. Besides, we still thought his price a bit high so we negotiated a lower rate by arguing that he still could book an afternoon tour after he’d taken us up to the lookout.
Several minutes later, as our bread car approached the path, heading upward in a series of endless hairpin turns, we realized our folly. Yang had not been exaggerating when he said the road was difficult. If anything, he’d understated it.
Made of loose gravel and dirt, barely wide enough to accommodate a car -- let alone a minivan -- with no barriers overlooking the gorge, the road also served as a repository for falling rock.
We eyed the pebbles dribbling down with some trepidation, but the driver had better things to worry about. He was lurching right into the first hairpin.
With mastery, boldness of spirit, and not a little exertion steering, Yang commanded his bread car up that mountain whilst we held our breaths.
It wasn’t until after we’d climbed to the top and he’d mopped the sweat off his forehead that our driver told us that just a few days ago a landslide had toppled over a minivan, killing three people - including the 19-year-old driver -- and injuring five others.
This little clip of our journey up to Tiger Leaping Gorge pays homage to Yang’s driving expertise.
Video: Watch the harrowing trip to Tiger Leaping Gorge
