Starting at the White Emperor City in the west and ending at Daxi Stream in the east, the Qutang Gorge, or Kui Gorge, known for its magnificence, is only 8 kilometers long.

The shortest in the world-famous Three Yangtze Gorges, it is the most spectacular. In this section, the Yangtze carves its way through the gorge between the sheer precipices of overhanging mountains at both sides. The mountain peaks are nestled in the clouds, making one of the Qutang Gorge's magnificent views. The narrowest pint of the river bed is only several dozen meters while the widest pint is more than 1, 800 meters. Kui Gate at the entrance to the gorge, two perpendicular cliffs rear over the river surface on either side, looking like a pair of  giant door leaves.

The 60-kilometer tributary of the Yangtze River, rises in the southern part of Shennongjia Natural Reserve and joins the Yangtze at Xirangkou in Hubei's Badong County. It runs out of the deep valley through the forest at a height of 3000m above sea level, and rushes southward between rocky cliffs. It covers 60 km and totally 17 rivers and streams flow into it. One of the most important ports of call for Yangtze Three Gorges tour.