When leaving the Three Gorges dam 10 km behind, we’ll reach a steep gorge, the Kongling Gorge. The cloud-capped mountains in the gorge look like sharpened by knives and axes. This gorge is also called “the Kongleng Gorge (empty and cold gorge)”, “the Tongling Gorge (Through Mountains Gorge)”. It’s about 2.5 km in length. According to records in ancient books, ships had to be emptied to ensure its safe sailing in the torrent here. In the middle of this narrow watercourse, there’s a shoal full of many dangerous submerged reefs, called “the Kongling Shoal”. Ancient people said “the Qing Shoal and the Xie Shoal are not the real shoal, only the Kongling is the gate to the hell”. Many years ago, there was a big rock in the middle of the water, showing the warning words “Come towards me”. When getting here, ships must go straight ahead towards the Rock; with the help of backstroke water bounced by the rock, ship would skim rock and pass through in safety. But, if you ignored the warning, and intended to steer away from the big rock, the water would certainly rush you to the rock causing accident.