>Yangtze pack

Yangtze

Facts about the Yangtze

Name: Only in its lower reaches does the river go by its common name – Yangtze River – which translates as Son of the Sea.
Length: At 6,378km in length, the Yangtze River is the longest river in Asia and the third longest in the world after the Nile in Africa and the Amazon in South America.
Source and course: In 1985, a Chinese expedition determined that the source of the Yangtze is the Dam Qu (The River of the Marshes) at the foot of Mount Geladaindong in the Tanggula Mountains on the Tibetan Plateau at an elevation of about 4,800m.; The Dam Qu combines with the Tuotuo to form the Tongtian River (The River that Travels Through the Heavens).; 300km downstream, at the border between Tibet and Sichuan, the Tongtian is renamed the Jinsha Joang (The River of Golden Sand).; In the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, in Tibet and Qinghai, the river is very turbulent, very fast flowing, tightly confined between heavily forested valley sides.; Near Lijiang, where the river turns abruptly in two “Great Bends”, is an area that inspired the legendary tale Shangri-La. Here is Tiger Leaping Gorge, a massive cleft 3,000m deep that constrains the Yangtze to a roaring torrent only 30m wide. The gorge – probably the world’s deepest river gorge – is so narrow that legend has it that a hunted tiger made his escape by leaping from one side to the other. Within the 17km stretch of gorge, the river falls 300m, making for the most dramatic sight on the entire river.; The Yangtze continues east, cutting through a series of gorges until it reaches Yibin, the upper limit of the river’s navigability. Here, the river changes name again to Chang Jiang (The Long River).; Beyond, at Yibin, the river is joined by one of its major tributaries, the Min Jiang. The Yangtze has 700 tributaries.; The 192km long Three Gorges area is one of China’s most popular tourist attractions. It begins downriver of Chongqing at Baidiching. The first gorge – the 8km long Qutang Gorge – is enclosed by peaks that rise over 1,000m above the water; it is described by the Song poet Su Dongpo as “like a thousand seas poured into one cup”. Prior to the dam, water levels in this area could rise by between ten and twenty metres in a single day. Downriver of Wushan is the second gorge, Wu Gorge, 45km of fantastic precipices where the goddess Yao Ji and her eleven sisters are said to have quelled some unruly river dragons and turned themselves into mountains. At Zigui lies the third gorge, Xiling Gorge. Historically, this is the most dangerous for its torrential rapids and treacherous shoals. Since 1949, a hundred of these obstacles have been cleared through dredging and blasting. Now the waters behind the Three Gorges Dam have risen over these obstacles making for easier navigation.; After the Three Gorges Dam and the Gezhou Dam, the landscape changes dramatically. Here the river meanders through the Yangtze Plains where flooding is a constant threat. There are over 1,200 lakes scattered over the plain including Lake Dongtong, China’s largest lake.; The Han River, the Yangtze’s longest tributary, joins at Wuhan.; Downriver of Lake Poyang, a substantial area of agricultural land is under irrigation. This area produces 70% of China’s rice crop, 40% of its grain and half of its freshwater fish catch.; The first bridge over the Yangtze was built at Nanjing, the ancient capital of China. It opened in 1968.; 80km downstream, is the Grand Canal at the city of Zhenjiang. The canal crosses the Yangtze. It flows between Beijing in the north and Hangzhou in the south. At 1,800km, the Grand Canal is the world’s longest man-made waterway.; The Yangtze Delta is densely populated all the way to Shanghai and the East China Sea.
Catchment area: The Yangtze drains almost 30% of China’s land area and some 500m people or 12% of the world’s population lives in the basin.
Navigation and tide: The Yangtze River has been China’s principal water transport artery since ancient times with over 3,060km of navigable water (from Shanghai to Yibin, west of Chongqing). Today, 80% of the nation’s water cargo travels via the Yangtze. The Yangtze River’s tidal effects are felt in Nanjing – 289 miles from the mouth of the river.

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