Old photo: A stunning view of the Yangtze River in 1946

The Three Gorges of the Yangtze River starts from Baidi City, Fengjie County, Chongqing City in the west, and reaches Nanjin Pass in Yichang City, Hubei Province in the east, with a total length of 193 kilometers.

This photo is from Life magazine and is by Dmitri Kessel.

Dmitry Kessel, a Russian-born Jew, fled to Romania with his family as a child, moved to the United States, took up photography as a profession, traveled through Europe and Asia as a war correspondent during World War II, and lived in Nanjing, China for more than half a year while working for LIFE magazine. In 1946, the Nationalist Government planned to cooperate with the United States in the development of the Three Gorges, and the American magazine "Life" spent a huge amount of money to take this set of precious photos of the Three Gorges.

Trivia: Why is the "big-handed" photo of the Three Gorges in "Life" dusty

"Life magazine loved this story about the Yangtze River and had already put out 15 pages of photos," Kessel, who was over 89 years old, said of the unforgettable shooting experience in public in 1993. The slender men used ropes to pull the boat up against the current, like the slender men on the Volga. ”

Life has dedicated 15 pages to these photos at once, and it will undoubtedly be a veritable grand launch. Unfortunately, however, something happened later. Life magazine abruptly removed all 15 pages that had been reserved. Kessel revealed the inside story, and before the Yangtze River Photo Story was published, John Hansey's departure angered the executives of Life. The photographer, before filming the Yangtze River story, left Kessel for Japan, where he wrote a famous article about Hiroshima for The New Yorker magazine, which published a special feature of his Hiroshima story. But Wilson Hicks of "Life" has always regarded "The New Yorker" as a "thorn in the side" and a "thorn in the heart." Mr. Casel recalled that Hicks angrily walked into the office with the New Yorker and said, "I'm never going to publish another word about this guy." In this way, Kessel's picture story of the Yangtze River has also come to naught, and this group of rare old photos of the Three Gorges has been sealed.

Wanzhou Bridge, built in the first year of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1870), was washed away by a major flood in May 1970. Because of the impoundment of the Three Gorges Reservoir, it has now sunk to the bottom of the river.

The current is fast, and it is very dangerous to sail.

The slender man who is working on the Yangtze River, the slender man is a very hard profession.

A slender man sitting on the shore resting

The cabin was crowded.

The Yangtze River overlooks the Yangtze River and is extremely handsome.

At that time, the small sailboats on the Yangtze River were all boatmen who relied on the river to eat

A small ferry crossing by the river

A shipyard on the Yangtze River

These two photos were taken from an airplane of the Yangtze River, with majestic mountains and meandering waters.

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