This Day, That Year

Item from March 7, 1986, in China Daily: A luxury ship will begin taking tourists on trips down the Yangtze River starting on March 26, according to the Great Yangtze Travel Company, the operator of a joint venture between two Shanghai companies and a Hong Kong firm.

The Chinese cruise industry has been growing rapidly in recent years. Passengers made 2.22 million trips on cruise liners last year, compared with about 10,000 a decade earlier, according to the China Cruise and Yacht Industry Association.

The country aims to become the Asia-Pacific region's largest cruise market by 2020, with the number of cruise travelers hitting 4.5 million, according to plans provided by the Ministry of Transport.