Next stop after the twelve peaks of the Wu Mountains is the Daning River. Its headwater is the Zhongnan Mountain of the Pingli County in Shanxi Province. After passing through countless valleys and canyons of Wuxi and the Wu Mountain in Chongqing, it reaches the Yangtze in the east corner of Wushan County. Along the Daning River, there are another three gorges as the Longmen Gorge, the Bawu Gorge and the Dicui Gorge, making the “Little Three Gorges”. Compared to the great Three Gorges, the little one is more beautiful and fascinating. People describe it as “Three Gorges top of the world, Little Three Gorges top of the Three Gorges”. The water raised by the Three Gorges Project reservoir has some impact on the scenery of Little Three Gorges, but improves the navigation condition in the Madu River and Mini Three Gorges.

Madu River is an anabranch of the Daning River. Along this river, there’s the Mini Three Gorges. The 20 km Mini one consists of Madu Gorge, Qinwang Gorge and Xiniu Gorge (the Rhinoceros Gorge). All the three gorges own their spectacular sceneries, in which the Madu Gorge is known for countless strange rocks and peaks; the Qinwang Gorge is know for caves and springs; and the Xiniu Gorge is famous for a rock of rhinoceros shape.