Yangtze River
| Yangtze River | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Basin countries | China |
| Length | 6,380 km (3,915 mi)[1] |
| 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) |
The Yangtze River, or Chang Jiang (simplified Chinese: 长江; traditional Chinese: 長江; pinyin: Cháng Jiāng), is the longest river in China and Asia, and the third-longest in the world, after the Nile in Africa and the Amazon in South America.
The river is about 6,380 km long and flows from its source in Qinghai Province, eastwards into the East China Sea at Shanghai. It has traditionally been considered a dividing line between North and South China, although geographers consider the Qinling-Huai River line to be the official line of geographical division. As the largest river in the region, the Yangtze is historically, culturally, and economically important to China. One of the dams on the river, the Three Gorges Dam, is the largest hydro-electric power station in the world.
The name Yangtze River, as well as various similar names such as Yangtse River, Yangzi River, Yangtze Kiang, etc., is derived from Yangzi Jiang (simplified Chinese: 扬子江; traditional Chinese: 揚子江; pinyin: Yángzǐ Jiāng) listen, which, beginning in the Sui Dynasty, was the Chinese name for the river in its lower reaches, specifically, the stretch between Yangzhou (扬州) and Zhenjiang (镇江). The name derives from the ancient ferry crossing Yangzi Jin (扬子津, meaning "Yangzi Crossing"). From the Ming Dynasty, the name was sometimes written 洋子 (yángzĭ). Because it was the name first heard by missionaries and traders, this name was applied in English to the entire river. In Chinese, Yangzi Jiang is considered a historical or poetic name for the river. The modern Chinese name, Chang Jiang (长江/長江 Cháng Jiāng), literally means "long river" and may sometimes also be used in English.
Like many rivers, the river is known by different names over its course. At its source, it is called in Chinese the Dangqu (当曲, 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 "river passing through heaven"). Where it runs through deep gorges parallel to the Mekong and the Salween before emerging onto the plains of Sichuan, it is known as the Jinsha River (金沙江 Jīnshā Jiāng, literally "golden sands river").
The Yangtze was earlier known to the Chinese as simply Jiang (江 Jiāng), 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 Drichu (Tibetan: འབྲི་ཆུ་; Wylie: 'bri chu, lit. "river of the female yak"). The Yangtze is sometimes referred to as the Golden Waterway.
Geography
The river originates in a glacier lying on the west of Geladandong Mountain in the Dangla Mountain Range on the eastern part of the Tibetan plateau. It 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. The headwaters of the Yangtze are situated at an elevation of about 4900 m (about 16,000 ft). In its descent to sea level, the river between 700 and 900 in the and about another 500 in Poyang and Dongting Lakes.
Population levels for 2007 are less years and is an important source of revenue in the regions that border it. At the same time, high-density dredging projects have been the principal cause of the death of the local wildlife population. commercial traffic transporting bulk goods such as coal as well as manufactured goods and passengers. Cargo transportation reached 795 million tons in 2005.[2][3] River cruises several days long, 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 it. The huge river system receives water from both southern and northern flanks, which causes its flood season to extend from May to August.