Wushan is situated at the confluence of the Yangtze and Daning rivers, just above the western entrance to the Wu Gorge. The town has existed since the latter part of the Shang Dynasty (c.1600-1027BC) and is now home to 3-,000 residents.

The name of the town originates with Wu Xian, a respected Tang Dynasty doctor in the imperial court who is buried on Nanling Mountain on the opposite bank of the Yangtze River. Wushan is the administrative site of Wushan County, a mountainous region rich in medicinal herbs that encompasses the Daning River valley and half of the Wu Gorge. Wushan is the starting point for the popular boat trips through the Lesser Gorges on the Daning River. The river winds its way 33 kilometers (20 miles) through the beautiful Lesser Gorges; birds singing and monkeys chattering can be hard and sometimes seen from both banks.

The water is strikingly clear in contrast to the muddy, turgid waters of the Yangtze. The first and most dramatic Lesser Gorges is known as Dragon Gate Gorge. In this gorge, the river ranges from only tem to thirty meters wide while the cliffs on either bank soar to an average of 800 to 1000 meters. Mysterious plants and fungus of longevity are said to grow high up on the cliff face. Two rows of squar holes extending the entire length of the gorges are all that remain of an ancient plank walkway. The walkway allowed easier access to salt mines far up the river.

The existence of the walkway was first recorded in 246 BC and was finally destroyed by the imperial Ming army during the 17th century after a peasant uprising. In the Misty Gorge, a 2000 year old "hanging" coffin can be seen suspended on a precipice high up on the cliff0face. The coffin is a relic left over from the ba people who inhabited the gorges region 3,500 to 1,800 years ago. At one time hundreds of these coffins could be seen throughout the Three Gorges and the Daning River, suspended from seemingly inaccessible areas on the cliff-sides.