Like all the villages and towns along the Yangtze, this village was around ten years old, built before the Three Gorge Dam Project was finished, as the water level was raised about 60-80m to the maximum level of 175m above sea level. Although relatively new, most of these towns are not finished off very well at all and the design of most buildings is bleak to our eye, but possibly very functional.



The lady being carried by the two women was a passenger on our cruise and she paid 40 RMB (~$8) to get to the attraction. 



 



ShiBaoZhai had loads of empty houses and we were told at although the town had 18,000 people most of the adults worked away in cities like Beijing and returned for the Spring Festival. Children lived with grandparents. There was little or no farming as the soil was poor. Small vegetable gardens were observable in the landscaped garden areas. The lowest level houses were the most expensive at 5000RMB per square metre, as these could be used for commercial premises, while the second and subsequent levels cost about 200-300RMB per square metre.

The government built a dam wall around the Red Pagoda to preserve it from the rising water level. This was a common strategy for ancient relics. Either that or relocating to higher grounds whole buildings or art treasures. The dam wall for this pagoda cost 3 million RMB.



We found another crazy sign at the top of this nine story pagoda that had 99 steps.



We came across a card game on our walk back to the boat, plus this one-man flying machine.



The final dinner on the cruise was held tonight. The Captain came to toast us farewell. I had my photo snapped with him and the tour guide Andy. 



We travelled fairly swiftly for the rest of the final night to make up the 600+km we were to travel on this trip. We must be up an ready to leave quite early tomorrow.