🌊 Yangtze River – The Lifeline of China
The Yangtze River, known in Chinese as Cháng Jiāng (长江, “Long River”), is the longest river in Asia and the third-longest in the world, stretching approximately 6,300 kilometers (3,915 miles) from its source in the Tanggula Mountains of the Tibetan Plateau to its mouth at the East China Sea near Shanghai. The river’s basin covers about 1.8 million square kilometers, encompassing diverse landscapes and supporting nearly one-third of China’s population.
📍 Geography and Course
Originating from the glaciers of the Tanggula Mountains in Qinghai province, the Yangtze River flows through or borders 10 provinces and regions, including Qinghai, Tibet, Yunnan, Sichuan, Chongqing, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui, Jiangsu, and Shanghai. Along its course, it passes through major cities such as Chongqing, Wuhan, Nanjing, and Shanghai, serving as a crucial waterway for transportation, agriculture, and industry.
🌿 Ecological Significance
The Yangtze River basin is one of the most biologically diverse regions in the world, home to numerous endemic and endangered species, including the Chinese alligator, the narrow-ridged finless porpoise, and the Yangtze sturgeon. However, the river’s ecosystem faces threats from pollution, overfishing, and habitat loss. In response, China implemented a 10-year fishing ban in 2021 to help restore aquatic biodiversity.
⚙️ Economic and Cultural Importance
The Yangtze River has been central to China’s economic development and cultural heritage for millennia. It serves as a vital transportation route, facilitates irrigation for agriculture, and hosts the world’s largest hydroelectric power station, the Three Gorges Dam. The river has also inspired countless works of art, literature, and folklore, symbolizing the enduring spirit of the Chinese people.
🌐 Learn More
The Yangtze or Yangzi (English: /ˈjæŋtsi/ or /ˈjɑːŋtsi/ simplified Chinese: 长江; traditional Chinese: 長江; pinyin: Cháng Jiāng; lit. 'long river') is the longest river in Eurasia and the third-longest in the world. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains of the Tibetan Plateau and flows 6,300 km (3,915 mi) in a generally easterly direction to the East China Sea. It is the fifth-largest primary river by discharge volume in the world. Its drainage basin comprises one-fifth of the land area of China, and is home to nearly one-third of the country's population.
| Yangtze River 长江 | |
|---|---|
 Dusk on the middle reaches of the Yangtze River (Three Gorges) 2002 | |
 Map of the Yangtze River drainage basin | |
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| Native name | Cháng Jiāng (Chinese) |
| Location | |
| Country | China |
| Provinces | Qinghai, Yunnan, Sichuan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui, Jiangsu |
| Municipalities | Chongqing and Shanghai |
| Autonomous region | Tibet |
| Cities | Luzhou, Chongqing, Yichang, Jingzhou, Yueyang, Changsha, Wuhan, Jiujiang, Anqing, Tongling, Wuhu, Nanjing, Zhenjiang, Yangzhou, Nantong, Shanghai |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | Dam Qu (Jari Hill) |
| • location | Tanggula Mountains, Qinghai |
| • coordinates | 32°36′14″N 94°30′44″E / 32.60389°N 94.51222°E |
| • elevation | 5,170 m (16,960 ft) |
| 2nd source | Ulan Moron |
| • coordinates | 33°23′40″N 90°53′46″E / 33.39444°N 90.89611°E |
| 3rd source | Chuma'er River |
| • coordinates | 35°27′19″N 90°55′50″E / 35.45528°N 90.93056°E |
| 4th source | Muluwusu River |
| • coordinates | 33°22′13″N 91°10′29″E / 33.37028°N 91.17472°E |
| 5th source | Bi Qu |
| • coordinates | 33°16′58″N 91°23′29″E / 33.28278°N 91.39139°E |
| Mouth | East China Sea |
• location | Shanghai and Jiangsu |
• coordinates | 31°23′37″N 121°58′59″E / 31.39361°N 121.98306°E |
| Length | 6,300 km (3,900 mi) |
| Basin size | 1,808,500 km2 (698,300 sq mi) |
| Discharge | |
| • average | 30,146 m3/s (1,064,600 cu ft/s) |
| • minimum | 2,000 m3/s (71,000 cu ft/s) |
| • maximum | 110,000 m3/s (3,900,000 cu ft/s) |
| Discharge | |
| • location | Datong hydrometric station, Anhui (Uppermost boundary of the ocean tide) |
| • average | (Period: 1980–2020)905.7 km3/a (28,700 m3/s) 30,708 m3/s (1,084,400 cu ft/s) (2019–2020) |
| Discharge | |
| • location | Wuhan (Hankou) |
| • average | (Period: 1980–2020)711.1 km3/a (22,530 m3/s) |
| Discharge | |
| • location | Yichang (Three Gorges Dam) |
| • average | (Period: 1980–2020)428.7 km3/a (13,580 m3/s) |
| Basin features | |
| Tributaries | |
| • left | Yalong, Min, Tuo, Jialing, Han |
| • right | Wu, Yuan, Zi, Xiang, Gan, Huangpu |
| Chang Jiang | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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.svg) "Yangtze River (Cháng jiāng)" in Simplified (top) and Traditional (bottom) Chinese characters | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 长江 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 長江 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | "Long River" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Yangtze River | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 扬子江 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 揚子江 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Tibetan name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tibetan | འབྲི་ཆུ། | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Yangtze has played a major role in the history, culture, and economy of China. For thousands of years, the river has been used for water, irrigation, sanitation, transportation, industry, boundary-marking, and war. The Yangtze Delta generates as much as 20% of China's GDP, and the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze is the largest hydro-electric power station in the world. In mid-2014, the Chinese government announced it was building a multi-tier transport network, comprising railways, roads and airports to create a new economic belt alongside the river.
The Yangtze flows through a wide array of ecosystems and is habitat to several endemic and threatened species, including the Chinese alligator, the narrow-ridged finless porpoise, and also was the home of the now extinct Yangtze river dolphin (or baiji) and Chinese paddlefish, as well as the Yangtze sturgeon, which is extinct in the wild. In recent years, the river has suffered from industrial pollution, plastic pollution, agricultural runoff, siltation, and loss of wetland and lakes, which exacerbates seasonal flooding. Some sections of the river are now protected as nature reserves. A stretch of the upstream Yangtze flowing through deep gorges in western Yunnan is part of the Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.