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The Yangtze river is situated in East China it floods a hell of a lot and kills many people so the built a big concrete thing to stop people getting wet |
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{{Refimprove|date=July 2008}} |
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{{Infobox_River | river_name = Yangtze River |
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|image_name=Yangtze_River_Map.png |
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|caption=The course of the Yangtze River through China |
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|basin_countries=[[People's Republic of China|China]] |
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|length=6,380 km (3,915 mi)<ref>Encyclopaedia Britannica: Yangtze River http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9110538/Yangtze-River</ref> |
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|elevation=5,042 m (16,542 ft) |
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|discharge=31,900 m³/s (1,127,000 ft³/s) |
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|watershed=1,800,000 km² (695,000 mi²)}} |
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The '''Yangtze River''', or '''Chang Jiang''' ({{zh-stp|t=[[wiktionary:長|長]][[wiktionary:江|江]] |s=[[wiktionary:长|长]][[wiktionary:江|江]]|p={{linktext|Cháng| Jiāng}}}}), is the longest [[river]] in China and [[Asia]], and the [[List of rivers by length|third-longest]] in the world, after the [[Nile]] in [[Africa]] and the [[Amazon River|Amazon]] in [[South America]]. |
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The river is about 6,380 [[Kilometre|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 [[Northern and southern China|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]]. The dam is also helping develop the country economically further |
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[[Image:Cn1202-03.jpg|right|thumb|300px|The first turn of the Yangtze at Shigu (石鼓), [[Yunnan]] Province, where the river turns 180 degrees from south- to north-bound.]]{{ChineseText}} |
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The name ''Yangtze River'', as well as various similar names such as '''Yangtse River''', '''Yangzi River''', '''Yangtze Kiang''', etc., is derived from '''Yangzi Jiang''' ({{zh-stp|s={{wd|扬}}{{wd|子}}{{wd|江}}|t={{wd|揚}}{{wd|子}}{{wd|江}}|p=''Yángzǐ Jiāng''}}) {{Audio|Chinese-YangZiJiang.ogg|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. |
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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 language|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 known as the '''Jinsha River''' (金沙江 ''Jīnshā Jiāng'', literally "golden sands river"). |
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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''' ({{bo|t=འབྲི་ཆུ་|w='bri chu}}, lit. "river of the female yak"). The Yangtze is sometimes referred to as the '''Golden Waterway'''. |
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[[Image:Map of the Yangtze River.gif|thumb|300px||Yangtze watershed]] |
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==Geography== |
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The river originates in a glacier lying on the west of [[Geladandong]] Mountain in the [[Tanggula Mountains|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 falls to an altitude of 305 m (1000 ft) at Yibin, Sichuan Province, the head of navigation for riverboats, and to 192 m (630 ft) at Chongqing. Between Chongqing and Yichang (I-ch'ang), at an altitude of 40 m (130 ft) and a distance of about 320 km (about 200 mi), it passes through the spectacular Yangtze Gorges, which are noted for their natural beauty but are dangerous to shipping. |
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It enters the basin of Sichuan at [[Yibin]]. While in the Sichuan basin, it receives several mighty tributaries, increasing its water volume significantly. It 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. |
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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 (Hanshui)|Han River]], bringing water from its northern basin as far as [[Shaanxi]]. |
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At the northern tip of Jiangxi, [[Lake Poyang]], the biggest freshwater 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]]. |
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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 [[Lake Poyang]] meets the river; the downstream part is from Hukou to Shanghai. It is home to hundreds of people. |
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==Environment== |
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[[Image:Ships on the Yangtze at dawn.JPG|right|thumb|200px|Ships on the Yangtze at dawn with bridge in the distance (near Nantong)]] |
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In 2007, fears were expressed that China's [[Finless Porpoise]], known locally as the ''jiangzhu'', or "river pig", might follow the [[baiji]], the Yangtze River dolphin, into extinction. The baiji was declared functionally extinct in 2006 but has been spotted recently. Calls have been made for action to be taken to save the porpoise, of which there are about 1400 left living, with between 700 and 900 in the Yangtze and about another 500 in [[Poyang]] and [[Dongting]] Lakes. |
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Population levels for 2007 are less than half the 1997 levels, and the population is dropping at a rate of 7.3 percent per year. |
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Heavy river traffic on the Yangtze has driven the porpoise into the lakes. On Poyang Lake, the largest freshwater lake in China, sand dredging has become a mainstay of local economical development in the last few 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. |
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Dredging makes the waters of the lake muddier, and the porpoises cannot see as far as they once could and have to rely on their highly developed sonar systems to avoid obstacles and look for food. Large ships enter and leave the lake at the rate of two a minute, and such a high density of shipping means the porpoises have difficulty hearing their food and also impedes them from swimming freely from one bank to the other.<ref>[http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/839-Poyang-Lake-saving-the-finless-porpoise ''www.chinadialogue.net - Poyang Lake saving the finless porpoise]</ref> |
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About 30% of the river's major tributaries like Minjiang, Tuojiang, Xiangjiang and Huangpu are heavily polluted by massive quantities of ammonia, nitrogen, phosphorus and other pollutants which are causing significantly smaller fish catch.<ref>[http://ecologicalproblems.blogspot.com/2007/07/heavy-pollution-of-river-yangtze.html World ecological problems: Heavy pollution of river Yangtze<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> |
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The [[Three Gorges Dam]] is having a major adverse impact on the Yangtze River basin, especially the [[Biota (ecology)|biota]] and [[archaeology]].<ref>Lu Jin, (2006) ''Three Gorges Project in China'', Changjiang Press</ref><ref>[http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=17946 C. Michael Hogan, "Shen Nong Gorge Hanging Coffins", The Megalithic Portal, ed. A. Burnham (2007)]</ref> |
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The river is also home to rare fish such as the [[Chinese Paddlefish]] and the [[Yangtze Sturgeon]], which may also already be extinct. It is home to hundreds of people. |
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==Characteristics== |
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[[Image:Yangzi river shrines on hill top.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Tombs on a hill facing the Yangtze as it flows by]] |
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[[Image:Ferry on the Yangtze near Nantong.JPG|thumb|200px|right|Southbound ferry near Nantong]] |
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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, this dam spans the river, flooding [[Fengjie]], the first of a number of towns affected by the massive flood control and power generation project. This is the largest comprehensive [[irrigation]] project in the world and has a significant impact on [[Agriculture in China|China's agriculture]]. Its proponents argue that it will free people living along the river from floods that have repeatedly threatened them in the past and will 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]]. |
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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 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. |
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The Yangtze 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. |
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The river, used as a waterway for commerce, now offers the possibility to cruise at leisure. Since 2004, a European luxury cruising company has brought very high standards and with the help of Swiss hotelier Nicolas C. Solari, developed and opened three beautiful vessels now cruising the mighty river. |
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The river is one of the world's busiest waterways. Traffic includes commercial traffic transporting bulk goods such as coal as well as manufactured goods and passengers. Cargo transportation reached 795 million tons in 2005.<ref>[http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-01/23/content_4089542.htm Xinhua - English<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref><ref>[http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-02/04/content_4133140.htm Xinhua - English<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> River cruises several days long, especially through the beautiful and scenic [[Three Gorges]] area, are becoming popular as the tourism industry grows in China. |
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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. 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 Yangtze river floods|1911]], which killed around 100,000, [[1931 Yangtze river floods|1931]] (145,000 dead), and [[1935 Yangtze river floods|1935]] (142,000 dead). |
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The Yangtze is very polluted, especially in [[Hubei]] ([[Shashi District]]). |
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==History== |
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[[Image:Yangzi River gorge.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Afternoon light on the jagged grey mountains rising from the Yangtze River gorge]] |
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The Yangtze Harbor is important to the cultural origins of southern China. Human activity was found in the Three Gorges area as far back as 27 thousand years ago, initiating debate over the origin of the Chinese people.<ref>[http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v378/n6554/abs/378275a0.html Early Homo and associated artefacts from Asia<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> In the [[Spring and Autumn Period]], [[Ba (state)|Ba]] and [[Shu (state)|Shu]] were located along the western part of the river, covering modern Sichuan, Chongqing, and western Hubei; [[Chu (state)|Chu]] was located along the central part of river, corresponding to [[Hubei]], [[Hunan]], [[Jiangxi]], and southern [[Anhui]]. [[Wu (state)|Wu]] and [[Yue (state)|Yue]] were located along 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. |
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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 Irrigation System|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]] (that 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. |
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[[Image:-HK CityHall Seaview 51217 5.png|right|400px|A modern junk in Hong Kong]] |
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Historically, the Yangtze became the political boundary between north China and south China several times (see [[History of China]]) because of the difficulty of crossing the river. Many battles took place along the river, the most famous being the [[Battle of Red Cliffs]] in 208 AD during the [[Three Kingdoms]] period. |
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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 [[Kingdom of Wu|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 Dynasty|Ming]] occupied most parts of China from their capital at [[Nanjing]], though it later moved the capital to [[Beijing]]. The [[ROC]] capital was located in [[Nanjing]] in the periods 1911-1912, 1927-1937, and 1945-1949. |
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==The Arrival of Steamships for a variety of purposes== |
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{{Splitsection||Talk:Yangtze River#The Arrival of Steamships for a variety of purposes|date=August 2008}} |
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The first merchant steamer in China, the ''Jardine'', was built to order for the Firm in 1835. She was a small vessel intended for use as a mail and passenger carrier between Lintin, Macao, and Whampoa. However, after several trips, the Chinese authorities, for reasons best known to themselves, prohibited her entrance into the river. [[Lord Palmerston]], the British Foreign Secretary who personified [[gunboat diplomacy]], decided mainly on the "suggestions" of ''Jardine'' to wage war on China. In mid-1840, a large fleet of warships appeared on the China coast, and with the first cannon fire aimed at a British ship, the ''Royal Saxon'', the British started the first of the [[Opium Wars]]. British warships destroyed numerous shore batteries and enemy warships, laid waste to several coastal forts, indiscriminately bombarding town after town with heavy cannon fire, even pushing up north to threaten the [[Imperial Palace]] in Beijing itself. The Imperial Government, forced to surrender, gave in to the demands of the British. British military superiority was clearly evident during the armed conflict. British warships, constructed using such innovations as steam power combined with sail and the use of iron in shipbuilding, wreaked havoc on coastal towns; such ships (like the ''Nemesis'') were not only virtually indestructible but also highly mobile and able to support a gun platform with very heavy guns. In addition, the British troops were armed with modern muskets and cannons, unlike the Qing forces. After the British took [[Guangzhou|Canton]], they sailed up the Yangtze and took the tax barges, a devastating blow to the Empire as it slashed the revenue of the imperial court in Beijing to just a small fraction of what it had been. |
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In 1842, the Qing authorities sued for peace, which concluded with the [[Treaty of Nanjing]] signed on a gunboat in the river, negotiated in August of that year and ratified in 1843. In the treaty, China was forced to pay an indemnity to Britain, open five ports to Britain, and cede Hong Kong to Queen Victoria. In the supplementary Treaty of the Bogue, the Qing empire also recognized Britain as an equal to China and gave British subjects extraterritorial privileges in treaty ports. |
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The US, at the same time, wanting to protect its interests and expand trade, ventured the USS ''[[USS Wachusett (1861)|Wachusett]]'' six-hundred miles up the river to [[Hankou District|Hankow]] in about 1860, while the USS ''[[USS Ashuelot (1865)|Ashuelot]]'', a sidewheeler, made her way up the river to Ichang in 1874. The first USS Monocacy a sidewheel gunboat began charting the Yangtze River in 1871. The first USS Palos an armed tug was on Asiatic Station into 1891, cruising the Chinese and Japanese coasts, visiting the open treaty ports and making occasional voyages up the Yangtze River. From June to September 1891, anti-foreign riots up the Yangtze forced the warship to make an extended voyage as far as Hankow, 600 miles upriver. Stopping at each open treaty port, the gunboat cooperated with naval vessels of other nations and repairing damage. She then operated along the north and central China coast and on the lower Yangtze until June 1892. The cessation of bloodshed with the [[Taiping Rebellion]], Europeans put more steamers on the river. The French, not to sit idle and get rice crumbs, engaged the Chinese in war over the rule of Vietnam. The Sino-French Wars of the 1880s emerged with the [[Battle of Shipu]] having French cruisers in the lower Yangtze. |
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[[Image:USSLuzonPG-7.jpg|left|400px]] |
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China Navigation Company was an early shipping company founded in 1876 in London, initially to trade up the Yangtze River from their Shanghai base with passengers and cargo. Chinese coastal trade started shortly after and in 1883 a regular service to Australia was initiated. Most of the company's ships were seized by Japan in 1941 and services did not resume until 1946. [[Robert Dollar]] was a later shipping magnate, who became enormously influencial moving Californian and Canadian lumber to |
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the Chinese and Japanese market. |
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Yichang or [[Ichang]], 1600 km (1000 mi) from the sea, is the head of navigation for river steamers; oceangoing vessels may navigate the river to Hankow, a distance of almost 1000 km (almost 600 mi) from the sea. For about 320 km (about 200 mi) inland from its mouth, the river is virtually at sea level. |
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The Chinese Government, too, had steamers. It had its own naval fleet, the [[Nanyang Fleet]], which fell prey to the French fleet. The chinese would rebuild its fleet, |
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only to be ravaged by another war with Japan (1895) , Revolution (1911) and ongoing inefficiency and corruption. Chinese companies ran their own steamers, but were second tier to European operations at the time. |
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Steamers came late to the upper river. The three gorges and the strong current hindered plans. Achibald Little attempted a voyage with the Lee-Chuan, and the Kuling, delays and weak engines |
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meant that he only succeeded in the first vessel in 1898. Little soon built the first truly successful boat, the Pioneer, about 1899--she plied the river for two more decades and was even the flagship for the Royal Navy on the China Station. There were a few commercial steamers on the upper river by the turn of the century and the Boxer Rebellion. The Commercial firms of [[Jardine Matheson]], Butterfield and Swire, and [[Standard Oil]] had their own steamers on the river. Until 1881, the India and China coastal and river services were operated by several companies. In that year, however, these were merged into the Indo-China Steam Navigation Company, Ltd., a public company under the management of Jardines. The Jardine company pushed inland up the Yangtsze River on which a specially designed fleet was built to meet all requirements of the river trade. For many years, this fleet gave unequalled service. |
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Jardines established an enviable reputation for the efficient handling of shipping. As a result, the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company invited the firm to attend to the Agency of their Shire Line which operated in the Far East. Standard Oil ran the tankers Mei Ping, Mei An, and Mei Hsia. |
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With the Treaty Ports, the European powers and Japan were allowed to float navy ships into China's internal waters. The British, US and French did this. A full international fleet featured on Chinese |
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waters: Austro-Hungarians, Portuguese, Italian, Russian, and German navy ships came to Shanghaii and the treaty ports. The Japanese engaged in open war with the Chinese twice, and Russians twice, over conquest of the Chinese Qing empire-- in the First and Second Sino-Japanese War 1895, and 1905;and the Russo-Japanese war of 1904. Incidently, both the French and Japanese navies were |
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heavily involved in running opium and narcotics to Shanghai, where it was refined into morphine. It was then transhipped by liner back to Marseille and France (ie. [[French Connection]]) for processing in Germany and eventual sale in the US or Europe. |
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[[Image:IJN Izumo in Shanghai.jpg|300px|right|JN Izumo in Shanghai, 1937; she sank riverboats in 1941]] |
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In 1909 the gunboat USS Samar changed station to Shanghai, where she regularly patrolled the lower Yangtze River up to Nanking and Wuhu. Following an anti-foreign riots in Changsha in April 1910, which destroyed a number of missions and merchant warehouses, Samar sailed up the Yangtze River to Hankow and then Changsa to show the flag and help restore order. The gunboat was also administratively assigned to the Asiatic Fleet that year, which had been reestablished by the Navy to better protect, in the words of the Bureau of Navigation, "American interests in the Orient." After returning to Shanghai in August, she sailed up river again the following summer, passing Wuhu in June but then running aground off Kichau on 1 July 1911. After staying stuck in the mud for two weeks, Samar broke free and sailed back down river to coal ship. Returning upriver, the gunboat reached Hankow in August and Ichang in September where she wintered over owing to both the dry season and the outbreak of rebellion at Wuchang in October 1911. Tensions eased and the gunboat turned downriver in July 1912, arriving at Shanghai in October. Samar patrolled the lower Yangtze after fighting broke out in the summer 1913, a precursor to a decade of conflict between provincial warlords in China. In 1919, she was placed on the disposal list at Shanghai following a collision with a Yangtze river steamer that damaged her bow. |
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The spanish boats were replaced in the twenties by the [[USS Luzon (PG-47)|''Luzon'']] and [[USS Mindanao (PR-8)|''Mindanao'']] were the largest, [[USS Oahu (PR-36)|''Oahu'']] and [[USS Panay (PR-5)|''Panay'']] next in size, and [[USS Guam (PG-43)|''Guam'']] and [[USS Tutuila (PG-44)|''Tutuila'']] the smallest. China in the first fifty years of the twentieth century, was in low-grade chaos. Warlords, revolutions, natural disasters, civil war and invasions contributed. Yangtze boats were involved in the [[Nanjing Incident]] in 1927 when the Communists and Nationalists broke into open war. The Chiang's massacre of the |
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Communists in Shanghai in 1927 furthered the unrest, US Marines with tanks were landed. River steamers were popular targets for both Nationalists and |
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Communists, and peasants who would take periodic pot-shots at vessels. During the course of service the second [[USS Palos]] protected American interests in China down the entire length of the Yangtze, at times convoying U.S. and foreign vessels on the river, evacuating American citizens during periods of disturbance and in general giving credible presence to U.S. consulates and residences in various Chinese cities. In the period of great unrest in central China in the 1920s, Palos was especially busy patrolling the upper Yangtze against bands of warlord soldiers and outlaws. The warship engaged in continuous patrol operations between Ichang and Chungking throughout 1923, supplying armed guards to merchant ships, and protecting Americans at Chungking while that city was under siege by a warlord army |
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The British had a series of [[Insect class gunboat]] which patrolled between [[Chungking]] and [[Shanghai]]. Cruisers and destroyers and Fly class vessels also patrolled. The most infamous incident was when [[USS Panay]] and HMS Bee in 1937,were dive bombed by Japanese airplanes during the [[Rape of Nanking]]. The Europeans were forced to leave the Yangtse River with the Japanese takeover in 1941. The former steamers were either sabotaged or pressed into Japanese or Chinese service. |
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See Also |
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*[[China Station]] |
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*[[The Sand Pebbles (film)]] |
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*[[USS Asheville (PG-21)]] |
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*[[Brown water navy]] |
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*[[Yangtze Patrol]] |
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*[[HMS Amethyst (F116)]] |
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==Major cities along the river== |
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[[Image:Threegorges.png|nhỏ|500px|right|Map of the location of the Three Gorges Dam]] |
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[[Image:Yangzi river coal barge loading point.jpg|thumb|400px|right|A loading point for coal barges on the Yangtze River]] |
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[[Image:YangtzeWuhanFirstBridge.jpg|600px|right|The ''First Bridge'' at Wuhan. This view is downstream, backward the distant [[Three Gorges]] and [[Chongqing]]]] |
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*[[Panzhihua]] |
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*[[Yibin]] |
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*[[Luzhou]] |
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*[[Chongqing]] |
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*[[Yichang]] |
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*[[Jingzhou]] |
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*[[Shashi]] |
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*[[Shishou]] |
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*[[Yueyang]] |
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*[[Xianning]] |
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*[[Wuhan]] |
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*[[Ezhou]] |
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*[[Huangshi]] |
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*[[Huanggang, Hubei|Huanggang]] |
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*[[Chaohu]] |
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*[[Chizhou]] |
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*[[Jiujiang]] |
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*[[Anqing]] |
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*[[Tongling]] |
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*[[Wuhu]] |
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*[[Hefei]] |
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*[[Chuzhou]] |
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*[[Maanshan]] |
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*[[Taizhou, Jiangsu|Taizhou]] |
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*[[Yangzhou]] |
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*[[Zhenjiang]] |
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*[[Nanjing]] |
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*[[Nantong]] |
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*[[Shanghai]] |
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*[[Fengdu]] |
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==Crossings== |
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[[Hubei]]: |
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*[[Zhicheng Bridge]]<ref>[http://bridge.tongji.edu.cn/chinabridge/beam/41.HTM 枝城长江大桥 Zhicheng Bridge over Yangtze River<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> (road/rail bridge, opened 1971) |
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*[[Jingzhou Yangtze River Bridge]]<ref>{{Structurae|id=s0001855|title=Jingzhou Yangtze River Bridge}}</ref> (road bridge, opened 2002) |
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*[[Wuhan Junshan Yangtze River Bridge]] (a part of Beijing-Zhuhai Express Way/Wuhan Forth Circle Road, opened 2003) |
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*[[Wuhan Baishazhou Yangtze River Bridge]] (a part of Wuhan Third Circle Road, opened 2000) |
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*[[Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge]] (road/rail bridge, a part of Wuhan Inner Circle Road, opened 1957) |
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*[[Wuhan Qingdao Road Yangtze River Tunnel]] (expected the end of 2008) |
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*[[Second Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge]] (a part of Wuhan Inner Circle Road, opened 1995) |
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*[[Wuhan Erqi Yangtze River Bridge]] (a part of Wuhan Second Circle Road, expected 2010) |
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*[[Wuhan Tianxingzhou Yangtze River Bridge]] (road/rail bridge,expected 2009) |
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*[[Wuhan Yangluo Yangtze River Bridge]]<ref>{{Structurae|id=s0014848|title=Yangluo Bridge}}</ref> (a part of Wuhan Fourth Circle Road, road bridge, opened 2008) |
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*[[Huangshi Yangtze River Bridge]]<ref>{{Structurae|id=s0014848|title=Huangshi Yangtze River Bridge}}</ref> (road bridge, opened 1996) |
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[[Jiangxi]]: |
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*[[Jiujiang Yangtze River Bridge]] (road/rail bridge, opened 1992) |
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[[Anhui]]: |
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*[[Anqing Bridge]]<ref>{{Structurae|id=s0014848|title=Anqing Bridge}}</ref> (road bridge, opened 2005) |
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*[[Tongling Bridge]]<ref>{{Structurae|id=s0001884|title=Tongling Bridge}}</ref> (road bridge, opened 1995) |
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*[[Wuhu Yangtze River Bridge]] (road/rail bridge, opened 2000) |
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[[Jiangsu]]: |
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*[[Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge]] (road/rail bridge, opened 1968) |
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*[[Runyang Bridge]] (road bridge, opened 2005) |
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*[[Jiangyin Suspension Bridge]] (road bridge, opened 1999) |
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*[[Sutong Bridge]] (road bridge, expected 2008) |
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[[Jiangsu]] and [[Shanghai]]: |
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*[[Chongqi Bridge]](road bridge, expected 2010) |
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[[Shanghai]]: |
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*[[Shanghai Yangtze River Crossing Project|Shanghai Yangtze River Bridge]](road & metro bridge, expected 2010) |
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*[[Shanghai Yangtze River Crossing Project|Shanghai Yangtze River Tunnel]](road & metro tunnel, expected 2010) |
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==Dams== |
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By 2007, there are two dams on the Yangtze river: [[Three Gorges Dam]] and [[Gezhouba Dam]]. The third one [[Xiluodu Dam]] is under construction. More dams are in planning stage, such as Wudongde, Baihetan, and Xiangjiaba. |
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==Tributaries== |
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[[Image:Yangzi river ship yard on river bank.jpg|300px|thumb|right|A shipyard on the banks of the Yangtze building commercial river freight boats]] |
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The Yangtze River has over 700 [[tributaries]] but the principal tributaries are the following: |
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*[[Yalong River]] |
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*[[Minjiang River]] |
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*[[Jialing River]] |
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*[[Tuo he(river)]] |
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*[[Han River (Hanshui)|Han River]] |
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*[[Fushui River]] |
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==Miscellaneous== |
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*The Yangtze is home to at least two critically endangered species: The [[Chinese Alligator]] and the [[Chinese Paddlefish]]. (This is the only other place besides the U.S. that is native to an alligator species.) In December of [[2006]], the [[Baiji]] (Chinese River Dolphin) was declared [[functional extinction|functionally extinct]] after an extensive search of the river revealed no signs of the dolphin's inhabitance; however, one was sighted soon after.<ref>[http://sciencemode.com/2007/09/02/river-dolphin-thought-to-be-extinct-spotted-again-in-china/ ScienceMode » River Dolphin Thought to be Extinct Spotted Again in China<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> |
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*[[Cheung Kong Holdings]], from the [[Cantonese (linguistics)|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 [[tycoon]]s. |
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*In 2004 [[Martin Strel]] from [[Slovenia]] swam the river from the [[Tiger Leaping Gorge]] to [[Shanghai]] (4600 km, 2860 miles). |
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*In 1342 the Yangtze River in Jiangzu province was reported to have run dry. Water completely disappeared for a day and the riverbed became visible. This event occurred again on [[January 13]], [[1954]].<ref name=yangtzedry>According to p. 140 of the 986th edition of Australian ''Chinese Daily'' magazine published on 18 Aug 2007.</ref> |
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*The river was first rafted from source to mouth in 1986 by all-Chinese teams attempting to beat a Sino-American team to the first descent. Ten of the rafters drowned. The event was widely followed by the Chinese press, and became a source of national pride.<ref>[http://www.shangri-la-river-expeditions.com/1stdes/yangtze/yangtzesummary.html Yangtze River Pictures<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> |
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*As the Yangtze is undergoing a transformation due to the Three Gorges Dam, Canadian documentary filmmaker Yung Chang made an award-winning documentary called [http://www.zeitgeistfilms.com/film.php?directoryname=uptheyangtze Up the Yangtze]. |
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==See also== |
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[[Image:Yangtze-Ships.JPG|500px|right|scenery on the river]] |
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{{commons|Chang Jiang}} |
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*[[Yangtze River Delta]] |
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*[[List of rivers in China]] |
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*[[1998 Yangtze River Floods]] |
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*[[Three Gorges Dam]] |
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*[[Geography of China]] |
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*[[Shen Nong Stream]] |
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*[[Yangtze Service Medal]] |
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*[[Dragon Boat]] |
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*[[Ship lifts in China]] |
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*[[Chang Jiang Motorcycle]] |
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*[[Tiger Leaping Gorge]] |
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*[[Yangtze River Crossing]] |
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*[[South-North Water Transfer Project]] |
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*[[River cruise]] |
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*[[HMS Amethyst (U16)#Yangtze Incident|Yangtze Incident]] |
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*[[Baiji]] |
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*[[Finless Porpoise]] |
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*[[Three Furnaces]] |
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*[[ChinaTravelGuide:Yangtze River| China Travel Guide - Yangtze River]] |
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*[[Steamboats on the Yangtze River]] |
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==References== |
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[[Image:Lipotes vexillifer.png|right|400px|An illustration of the Baiji]] |
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{{reflist}} |
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==Further reading== |
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*Van Slyke, Lyman P. 1988. ''Yangtze: nature, history, and the river''. A Portable Stanford Book. ISBN 0-201-08894-0 |
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*Winchester, Simon. 1996. ''The River at the Center of the World:A Journey up the Yangtze & Back in Chinese Time'', Holt, Henry & Company, 1996, hardcover, ISBN 0-8050-3888-4; trade paperback, Owl Publishing, 1997, ISBN 0-8050-5508-8; trade paperback, St. Martins, 2004, 432 pages, ISBN 0-312-42337-3 |
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{{coord|33|28|05|N|91|11|45|E|display=title|region:CN_type:river_source:dewiki}} |
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[[Category:Rivers of China]] |
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[[am:ያንትዜ ወንዝ]] |
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[[ar:يانغتسي]] |
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[[ca:Iang-Tsé]] |
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[[cy:Afon Yangtze]] |
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[[gl:Río Yangtzé]] |
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[[ko:양쯔 강]] |
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[[hi:चांग ज्यांग]] |
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[[hr:Jangce]] |
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[[id:Sungai Panjang]] |
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[[is:Jangtse]] |
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[[it:Chang Jiang]] |
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[[he:יאנגצה]] |
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[[jv:Kali Yangtze]] |
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[[kk:Чаңжәң]] |
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[[sw:Yangtze (mto)]] |
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[[lt:Jangdzė]] |
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[[ml:യാംഗ്സ്റ്റേ കിയാംഗ് നദി]] |
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[[nl:Blauwe Rivier]] |
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[[ja:長江]] |
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[[no:Chang Jiang]] |
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[[oc:Fluvi Blau]] |
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[[pl:Jangcy]] |
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[[pt:Rio Yangtzé]] |
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[[ro:Yangtze]] |
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[[qu:Yangsi mayu]] |
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[[ru:Янцзы]] |
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[[se:Jangze]] |
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[[simple:Yangtze River]] |
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[[sk:Jang-c'-ťiang]] |
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[[sl:Jangce]] |
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[[sr:Јангцекјанг]] |
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[[fi:Jangtse]] |
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[[sv:Changjiang]] |
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[[ta:யாங்சே]] |
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[[th:แม่น้ำแยงซี]] |
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[[vi:Dương Tử]] |
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[[tg:Дарёи Янгтсе]] |
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[[tr:Yangtze]] |
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[[uk:Янцзи]] |
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[[wa:Yangtzé]] |
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[[zh-yue:長江]] |
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[[bat-smg:Jangdzė]] |
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[[zh:长江]] |
Revision as of 09:53, 12 November 2008
The Yangtze river is situated in East China it floods a hell of a lot and kills many people so the built a big concrete thing to stop people getting wet