Hsi-ling

— Hsi-ling Gorge Hsi-ling, the third and longest of the gorges (almost thirty miles), is impressive enough in its own right but scenically it is overshadowed by its companions. Traditionally it was the most feared of all. While each gorge had its peculiar perils, Hsi-ling was notorious for its shoals and rapids, formed by periodic landslides as the river cut through the shaly and unstable layers of the Huang-ling anticline. Not far into Hsi-ling, one encountered Hsin-t'an, or "New Rapids," which took its name from slides in the sixteenth century that created this hazard.