The Yangtze River waterfront

Wuhan, China

Note the tall monument which, from far away, appears to be a monument to Mao Zedong, but which actually commemorates Wuhan's complicated relationship with its great river. Erected in 1969, tt's inscribed with Mao's poem "Swimming" (which not only celebrates the Yangtze in Wuhan, but also foresees the creation of the mighty hydro dams farther upstream), and decorated with reliefs depicting the citizens fighting the flood of 1954.