Yangtze River History Overview Ⅰ

Yangtze River History Overview – Brief Introduction

Yangtze River is the biggest river in China. It originates from the southwest side of Gela Dandong which is the main peak of Danggula Mountains in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The main stream of the Yangtze River flows out from Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and flows toward eastern. The Yangtze River flows by Qinghai Province, Tibetan Autonomous Region, Sichuan Province, Yunan Province, Hubei Province, Hunan Province, Jiangxi Province, Anhui Province, Jiangsu Province and Shanghai, totally ten provinces, districts and cities. At last, it flows into East China Sea in Shanghai. The Yangtze River stretches 6300 kilometers, covering over 18,000,000 square kilometers, which is one-fifth of the total area of China. Its length and area offers Yangtze Cruises a good condition to sail.

Yangtze River History Overview – Source

There are many different ideas about the river source of the Yangtze River in history. There are two ideas in recent periods Geography books about the river source of the Yangtze River. The first one thought that "the Yangtze River and the Yellow River originate from the same mountain". It is said that the Yangtze River and the Yellow River originate from Bayan Kara Mountain; the Yangtze River originates from the southern foot, while the Yellow River originates from the northern foot. The other idea thought that the Yangtze River originates from Hoh Xil Range. In the summer of 1976 and 1978, the Yangtze River Basin Program Office ever organized two river source exploration groups to research the river source areas and they found out the river source water system and the condition in source area. The source of the Yangtze River located in the middle of Mt. Kunlun and Danggula Mountains, where many rivers at here, including the larger Qumar River, Tuotuo River and Damqu River. Among the three rivers, Damqu River is the largest one for its drainage area and water amount. Base on the rule that "the river source is the further one", the exploration group determined the Tuotuo River as the main source of the Yangtze River, and Damqu River is the source on south side and Qumar River is the source of north side. In the river source area, there are over 40 snow mountains, where is very cold and the four seasons are winter, the annual precipitation is 200mm - 400 mm, and mainly are snow; the average temperature in July is under zero and the temperature can reach zero only in the daytime when the sunshine strongly radiate on there. The stream which formed by the melting ice and snow is the first water source of the Yangtze River.

Yangtze River History Overview – Main Stream

The Yangtze River flows by the three giant stages of Chinese terrain from its source to the estuary. It passes through different geological structure and rock strata, and received some anabranches on its way. Base on hydrology and topographical features, the Yangtze River can be divided into upstream, midstream and downstream. The upstream part is from the river source area to Yichang Municipality, the midstream part is from Yichang Municipality to Hukow, and the downstream is from Hukow to the end part. The special terrain of the Yangtze River will make Yangtze Cruise tourist become more wonderful.

The Yangtze River history is an important part of Yangtze Cruises tourist.