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Yangtze River

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Geography of Asia

                         Yangtze River
   The course of the Yangtze River through China

                The course of the Yangtze River through China

   Origin           Qinghai and Tibet in China
   Mouth            East China Sea
   Basin countries  China
   Length           6,211 km (3,859 mi)
   Source elevation 5,042 m (16,542 ft)
   Avg. discharge   31,900 m³/s (1,127,000 ft³/s)
   Basin area       1,800,000 km² (695,000 mi²)
   Afternoon light on the jagged grey mountains rising from the Yangtze
   River gorge
   Enlarge
   Afternoon light on the jagged grey mountains rising from the Yangtze
   River gorge

   The Yangtze River or Chang Jiang ( Simplified Chinese: 长江; Traditional
   Chinese: 長江; pinyin: Cháng Jiāng) listen  is the longest river in Asia
   and the third longest in the world after the Nile in Africa and the
   Amazon in South America.

   The river is about 6,211 km long and flows from its source in Qinghai
   Province in western China, eastwards into the East China Sea. It has
   traditionally been considered a dividing point between northern and
   southern China, although geographers consider the Qinling- Huai River
   line to be the official line of geographical division.

Names

   The name Yangtze River, as well as various similar names such as
   Yangtse River, Yangtze Kiang etc., is derived from Yangzi Jiang (
   Simplified Chinese: 扬子江; Traditional Chinese: 揚子江; pinyin: Yángzǐ
   Jiāng) listen , the Chinese name for the river in its lower reaches.
   The modern Chinese name, Chang Jiang (长江/長江 Cháng Jiāng), literally
   means "long river" and is increasingly being adopted as the standard
   name in English.

   Like many rivers, the Yangtze is known by different names over
   different parts of its course. At its source the river is known in
   Chinese as the Dangqu (当曲/當曲, from the Tibetan for "marsh river").
   Downstream it is called the Tuotuo River (沱沱河) and then the Tongtian
   River (通天河, literally "pass to heaven river"). Where it runs through
   deep gorges parallel to the Mekong and the Salween before emerging onto
   the plains of Sichuan it is famous as the Jinsha River (金沙江 Jīnshā
   Jiāng, literally "golden sands river"). The name Yangzi was originally
   used by inhabitants of the river's lower reaches, downstream from
   Zhenjiang and Yangzhou in Jiangsu, and derives from the name of an
   ancient ferry crossing Yangzi Jin (扬子津/揚子津, literally "Mr, Yang's
   crossing"). Because it was the name first heard by missionaries and
   traders, it was applied in English to the entire river. In Chinese,
   Yangzi Jiang is considered a historical or poetic name for the river.

   The Yangtze was earlier known to the Chinese as simply Jiang (江 Jiāng),
   a name which has become a generic name meaning "river," or the Da Jiang
   (大江 Dà Jiāng, literally "great river"). The Tibetan name for the river
   is Vbri-chu (འབྲི་ཆུ་, lit. "river of the female yak"). The Yangtze is
   sometimes referred to as the Golden Waterway.

Geography

   Cruising through the Three Gorges along the Yangtze River
   Enlarge
   Cruising through the Three Gorges along the Yangtze River

   The river originates in a glacier in the Dangla mountains on the
   eastern part of the Tibetan plateau. It then runs through the eastern
   part of Qinghai, turning southward down a deep valley at the border of
   Sichuan and Tibet to reach Yunnan. In the course of this valley, the
   river's elevation drops from above 5000 m to less than 1000 m. It
   enters the basin of Sichuan at Yibin. While in the Sichuan basin it
   receives several mighty tributaries, increasing its water volume
   significantly. The river then cuts through Mount Wushan bordering
   Chongqing and Hubei to create the famous Three Gorges. Eastward of the
   Three Gorges, Yichang is the first city on the Yangtze Plain. After
   entering Hubei, the Yangtze receives more water from thousands of
   lakes. The largest of these lakes is Dongting Lake, which is located on
   the border of Hunan and Hubei provinces, and is the outlet for most of
   the rivers in Hunan. At Wuhan it receives its biggest tributary, the
   Han River, bringing water from its northern basin as far as Shanxi. At
   the northern tip of Jiangxi, Lake Boyang, the biggest lake in China,
   merges into the river. The river then runs through Anhui and Jiangsu
   provinces, receiving more water from innumerable smaller lakes and
   rivers, and finally reaches the East China Sea at Shanghai. Four of
   China's five main freshwater lakes contribute their waters to the
   Yangtze River. Traditionally, the upstream part of the Yangtze River
   refers to the section from Yibin to Yichang; the middle part refers to
   the section from Yichang to Hukou, where Boyang Lake meets the river;
   the downstream part is from Hukou to Shanghai.

Characteristics

   Tombs on a hill facing the Yangtze as it flows by
   Enlarge
   Tombs on a hill facing the Yangtze as it flows by

   The Yangtze flows into the East China Sea and was navigable by
   ocean-going vessels up to a thousand miles from its mouth even before
   the Three Gorges Dam was built. As of June 2003, the Three Gorges Dam
   now spans the river, flooding Fengjie, the first of a number of towns
   affected by the massive flood control and power generation project. The
   project is the largest comprehensive irrigation project in the world.
   Proponents of the dam argue that it will free people living along the
   river from floods that have repeatedly threatened them in the past, and
   will also offer them electricity and water transport - though at the
   expense of permanently flooding many existing towns (including numerous
   ancient cultural relics) and causing large-scale changes in the local
   ecology.

   Opponents of the dam point out that there are three different kinds of
   floods on the Yangtze River: floods which originate in the upper
   reaches, floods which originate in the lower reaches, and floods along
   the entire length of the river. They argue that the Three Gorges dam
   will actually make flooding in the upper reaches of the river worse and
   have little or no impact on floods which originate in the lower
   reaches. Twelve hundred years of low water marks on the river were
   recorded in the inscriptions and the carvings of carp at Baiheliang,
   now submerged.

   The Yangtze River is flanked with metallurgical, power, chemical, auto,
   building materials and machinery industrial belts, and high-tech
   development zones. It is playing an increasingly crucial role in the
   river valley's economic growth and has become a vital link for
   international shipping to the inland provinces. The river is a major
   transportation artery for China connecting the interior with the coast.
   The Yangtze River is one of the world's busiest waterways. River
   traffic includes commercial traffic transporting bulk goods such as
   coal as well as manufactured goods and passengers. Cargo transportation
   on the Yangtze River reached 795 million tons in 2005 . River cruises
   of several days duration especially through the beautiful and scenic
   Three Gorges area are becoming popular as the tourism industry grows in
   China.

   Flooding along the river has been a major problem. The rainy season in
   China is May and June in areas south of Yangtze River, and July and
   August in areas north of river. The huge river system receives water
   both from southern and northern flanks, which causes its flood season
   to extend from May to August. Meanwhile, the relatively dense
   population and rich cities along the river make the floods more deadly
   and costly. The most recent major floods were the 1998 Yangtze River
   Floods, but more disastrous were the 1954 Yangtze river floods, killing
   around 30,000 people. Other severe floods included those of 1911 which
   killed around 100,000, 1931 (145,000 dead), and 1935 (142,000 dead).

History

   Yangtze River as seen from a cruise boat
   Enlarge
   Yangtze River as seen from a cruise boat

   The Yangtze river occupies an important place in the cultural origins
   of southern China. Human activity was found in the Three Gorges area as
   far back as 2 million years ago, initiating debate over the origin of
   the Chinese people. In the Spring and Autumn Period, Ba and Shu were
   located in the western part of the river, covering modern Sichuan,
   Chongqing, and western Hubei; Chu was located in the central part of
   river, corresponding to Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, and southern Anhui. Wu
   and Yue were located in the eastern part of the river, now Jiangsu,
   Zhejiang, and Shanghai. Although the Yellow River region was richer and
   more developed at that time, the milder climate and more peaceful
   environment made the Yangtze river area more suitable for agriculture.
   From the Han Dynasty, the region of the Yangtze river became more and
   more important in China's economy. The establishment of irrigation
   systems (the most famous one is Dujiangyan, northwest of Chengdu, built
   during the Warring States period) made agriculture very stable and
   productive. Early in the Qing dynasty, the region called " Jiangnan"
   (includes the southern part of Jiangsu, the northern part of Zhejiang,
   and the southeastern part of Anhui) provided 1/3-1/2 of the nation's
   revenues.

   Historically, the mighty Yangtze river became the political boundary
   between north China and south China several times (see History of
   China) because of the difficulty of crossing the river. A lot of
   battles took place along the river, the most famous being the Battle of
   Red Cliffs in 208 AD during the Three Kingdoms period. Politically,
   Nanjing was the capital of China several times, although most of the
   time its territory only covered the southeastern part of China, such as
   the Wu kingdom in the Three Kingdoms period, the Eastern Jin Dynasty,
   and smaller countries in the Northern and Southern Dynasties and Five
   Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms periods. Only the Ming occupied most parts
   of China from their capital at Nanjing, though it later moved capital
   to Beijing. The ROC capital was located in Nanjing in the periods
   1911-1912, 1927-1937, 1945-1949.

Major cities along the river

   Cities along the Yangtze, between Wuhan and Shanghai
   Enlarge
   Cities along the Yangtze, between Wuhan and Shanghai
   A loading point for coal barges on the Yangtze River
   Enlarge
   A loading point for coal barges on the Yangtze River
     * Panzhihua
     * Yibin
     * Luzhou
     * Chongqing
     * Yichang
     * Jingzhou
     * Shishou
     * Yueyang
     * Xianning
     * Wuhan
     * Ezhou
     * Huangshi
     * Huanggang
     * Chaohu
     * Chizhou
     * Jiujiang
     * Anqing
     * Tongling
     * Wuhu
     * Hefei
     * Chuzhou
     * Maanshan
     * Taizhou
     * Yangzhou
     * Zhenjiang
     * Nanjing
     * Nantong
     * Shanghai

Tributaries

   A shipyard on the banks of the Yangtze building commercial river
   freight boats
   Enlarge
   A shipyard on the banks of the Yangtze building commercial river
   freight boats

   The Yangtze River has over 700 tributaries but the principal
   tributaries are the following:
     * Yalong River
     * Minjiang River
     * Daduhe River
     * Tuojiang River
     * Jialing River
     * Wujiang River
     * Qingjiang
     * Xiangjiang
     * Lishui (Li)
     * Zijiang ( Zi)
     * Yuanjiang ( Yuan)
     * Han River
     * Ganjiang River
     * Huangpu River

Trivia

     * Cheung Kong Holdings, from the Cantonese language form of Chang
       Jiang and named after the river, is the name of the holding company
       controlled by Li Ka-Shing, one of Asia's richest tycoons.
     * In 2004 Martin Strel from Slovenia swam the river from the Tiger
       Leaping Gorge to Shanghai (4600 km, 2860 miles).
     * The Yangtze is home to (at least) three critically endangered
       species: The Chinese River Dolphin, the Chinese Alligator and the
       Chinese Paddlefish.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yangtze_River"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
