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Yangtze River Facts

Yangtze River - The Longest River in China; the Third Longest in the World.

The Yangtze River is the longest river in China and the third longest in the world, next to the Nile in Africa and the Amazon in South America. Same as many rivers,

 Yangtze River is known by different names over its course, with the Dangqu in Chinese at its source, then the Tuotuo River and Tongtian River downstream.

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  Stunning natural beauty and landscape along the mighty Yangtze River

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  The source of the Yangtze River lies on the west of Geladandong Mountain in the Dangla Mountain Range.

 Additionally, it also enjoys various similar names with Yangtze River, such as Yangtse River, Yangzi River, Yangtze Kiang, etc.

Yangtze Geography Characteristics

The source of the Yangtze River lies on the west of Geladandong Mountain in the Dangla Mountain Range on the eastern part of the Tibetan Plateau. The headwaters of the Yangtze are situated at an elevation of about 4,900 meters, and then falls to an altitude of 305 meters at Yibin, Sichuan.

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  Plentiful activities on Yangtze River keep its cultural diversity and unique.

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  Yangtze River acturally means the section from Yangzhou to the end, but the western missionary took it for the entir river.

 Between Chongqing and Yichang, it is at an altitude of 40 meters and a distance of about 320 kilometers, is the section where the most classical shipping areas for cruise and the spectacular Yangtze Gorges are located.

Generally, the Yangtze River is divided into three sections: the upstream (the section from Yibin to Yichang), middle part (the section from Yichang to Hukou), and downstream (the section from Hukou to Shanghai).

The Yangtze River flows through provinces of Qinghai, Tibet, Sichuan, Yunnan, Chongqing, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui and Jiangsu as well as the city of Shanghai from west to east, and finally empties into the Eastern China Sea.

Civilization & Traditional Folks of Yangtze River

Trackers

Boat trackers were the traditional workers in Yangtze River and they were forced to move heavy cargo or people upstream the Yangtze before engines were introduced here.

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  The trackers used to live a extremely difficult life, but now the condition has changed.

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  Maybe, it was the Yangtze River, three thousands years ago.

They were at the bottom of life, and had nothing to wear. See the pictures left, how hard the life was at that time. Presently, the trackers almost cannot be found on the Yangtze, and only some remain at the tributes of the Yangtze, such as the Lesser Three Gorges, Shennong Stream, etc. But, their lives have changed a lot.

Historical, Cultural, & Economic Importance of Yangtze River

The Yangtze River is important to the cultural and historical origins of southern China, and the human activities were found in the Three Gorges areas as far back at 27 thousand years ago. The Ba and Chu cultures are originated from here.

The Yangtze River Region had become more and more important to China's economy since the Han Dynasty. The establishment of irrigation systems, for example the Dujiangyan, northwest of Chengdu built during the Warring States period, made agriculture very stable and productive.

Historically, the Yangtze River became the political boundary between north China and south China several times due to the difficulty of crossing the river in ancient undeveloped times.