My wife and I are about to go to China, and will be arriving in Beijing on February 5th. Unfortunately we will miss both the Ice Festival and Chinese New Year, something that makes me very sad, but it cannot be helped.

We had discussed traveling overland from Beijing, through Xi'an and on to Chongqing to see the area to be flooded by the Three Gorges Dam. Another place that looked very interesting was the "Ghost City" at Fengdu.

I have a few specific questions: is the Ghost City all hype or is this worth seeing? Also, I understand that the flooding caused by the dam has already begun. Have we "missed it"? Or are there cool places to see along the Yangtze that are yet to be submerged?

I also have the usual general questions: has anyone done this route before and can they make any suggestions as to things worth seeing along the way? Is our southwest, overland trip going to be a particularly difficult route to take?

The old Fengdu had already been flooded. The new city holds some of the relics moved out from the old.