Overcome by torrents and tears

When an American threw out a challenge to a Chinese icon, the temptation to try to beat him was too much for many

They had been united in a common goal 30 years earlier, and in trying to achieve it 11 of their friends, peers and rivals had lost their lives. Now, as they met for a reunion, drink and tears flowed.

"During the party in Beijing all of us drank late into the night, and we laughed and wept," says Chu Siming, 59, a member of the China-US Upper Yangtze River expedition of 1986.