Changjiang Attractions

The Changjiang ("Long River") river is over 6000km/3700mi long, making it the longest and most important river in China and the third longest in the world, after the Amazon and the Nile. It flows from west to east through eight provinces and divides China into northern and southern halves.

For over 2000 years the Changjiang has been China's major transportation route; about 2700km/1680mi are navigable. Until the 1950s, because of its width in the middle and lower reaches, it could be crossed only by ferry, but now there are bridges at Chongqing, Wuhan and Nanjing. Its catchment area, with 700 tributaries, covers about one-fifth of the total area of the country, and the average annual volume of water carried is 1,050 billion cu.m or 230,000 billion gallons. A quarter of the country's agricultural land lies within the vicinity of the river.

The Changjiang rises 5600m/18,380ft up at Geladandong in Tanggulashan in the eastern highlands of Tibet, initially flows east and then turns south to form the border between Tibet and the province of Sichuan.