Cháng Jiāng (长江;長江), meaning "Long River", is the name for the river inChinese. However, the Chinese have given different names to sections of the river (it is from an ancient name to only a part of the river that the modern English name derives – see below).[15][16]
InOld Chinese, the Yangtze was simply calledJiang/Kiang江,[17] acharacter ofphono-semantic compound origin, combining the waterradical氵 with the homophone工 (now pronouncedgōng, but*kˤoŋ in Old Chinese[18]).Kong was probably a word in theAustroasiatic language of local peoples such as theYue. Similar to*krong inProto-Vietnamese andkrung inMon, all meaning "river", it is related tomodern Vietnamesesông (river) andKhmerkrung (city on riverside), whenceThaikrung (กรุง capital city), notkôngkea (water) which is from theSanskrit rootgáṅgā.[19]
The "Great River" (大江) with its entrance to theEast China Sea marked as the "Mouth of the Yangtze" (揚子江口) on theJiangnan map in the 1754Provincial Atlas of theQing Empire
By theHan dynasty,Jiāng had come to meanany river in Chinese, and this river was distinguished as the "Great River"大江 (Dàjiāng). The epithet長 (simplified version长), meaning "long", was first formally applied to the river during theSix Dynasties period.[citation needed]
Various sections of the Yangtze have local names. From Yibin toYichang, the river throughSichuan andChongqing Municipality is also known as theChuān Jiāng (川江) or "Sichuan River". InHubei, the river is also called theJīng Jiāng (荆江;荊江) or the "Jing River" afterJingzhou, one of the Nine Provinces of ancient China. InAnhui, the river takes on the local nameWǎn Jiāng after the shorthand name for Anhui,wǎn (皖).Jinsha ("Gold Sands") River refers to the 2,308 km (1,434 mi) of the Yangtze from Yibin upstream to the confluence with theBatang River nearYushu in Qinghai, while theTongtian ("Leading to Heaven") River describes the 813 km (505 mi) section from Yushu up to the confluence of theTuotuo River and theDangqu River.[citation needed]
Yángzǐ Jiāng (揚子江;扬子江) or the "Yangzi River", from which the English nameYangtze is derived, is the local name for the Lower Yangtze in the region ofYangzhou. The name likely comes from an ancient ferry crossing calledYángzǐ orYángzǐjīn (揚子 / 揚子津).[20] Europeans who arrived in theYangtze River Delta region applied thislocal name to the whole river.[15]
In the West, the river was calledQuian (江) andQuianshui (江水) byMarco Polo,[21] and appeared on the earliest English maps asKian orKiam.[22][23][17] By the mid-19th century, these romanizations had standardized asKiang.
A related form also popularized in English was "Kian-ku,"[24] also spelled "Keeang-Koo"[25] and "Kyang Kew",[26] derived from mistaking the Chinese term for the mouth of the Yangtze (江口,Jiāngkǒu) as the name of the river itself.
The nameBlue River began to be applied in the 18th century,[22] apparently owing to a former name of the Dam Chu[28] or Min[30] and to analogy with theYellow River,[31][32] but it was frequently explained in early English references as a 'translation' ofJiang,[33][34]Jiangkou,[25] orYangzijiang.[35] Very common in 18th- and 19th-century sources, the name fell out of favor due to growing awareness of its lack of any connection to the river's Chinese names[36][37] and to the irony of its application to such a muddy waterway.[37][38]
Matteo Ricci's 1615Latin account included descriptions of the "Ianſu" and "Ianſuchian."[39] The posthumous account's translation of the name asFils de la Mer ("Son of the Ocean")[39][40] shows that Ricci, who by the end of his life was fluent in literary Chinese, was introduced to it as the homophonic洋子江 rather than the usual揚子江. Further, althoughrailroads and theShanghai concessions subsequently turned it into a backwater,Yangzhou was the lower river's principal port for much of theQing dynasty, directingLiangjiang's importantsalt monopoly and connecting the Yangtze with theGrand Canal to Beijing. (That connection also made it one of theYellow River's principal ports between the floods of1344 and the 1850s, during which time the Yellow River ran well south ofShandong and discharged into the ocean a mere few hundred kilometers from the mouth of the Yangtze.[36][24])
Yángzǐ Jiāng (揚子江;扬子江), or the "Yangzi River", from which the English nameYangtze is derived, is the local name for the Lower Yangtze in the region ofYangzhou (see above). Europeans who arrived in theYangtze River Delta region applied thislocal name to the whole river.[15]
By 1800, English cartographers such asAaron Arrowsmith had adopted the French style of the name[41] asYang-tse orYang-tse Kiang.[42] The British diplomatThomas Wade emended this toYang-tzu Chiang as part of his formerly popularromanization of Chinese, based on theBeijing dialect instead of Nanjing's and first published in 1867. The spellingsYangtze andYangtze Kiang was a compromise between the two methods adopted at the 1906 Imperial Postal Conference in Shanghai, which establishedpostal romanization.Hanyu Pinyin was adopted by the PRC'sFirst Congress in 1958, but it was not widely employed in English outside mainland China prior to the normalization of diplomatic relations between the United States and the PRC in 1979; since that time, the spellingYangzi has also been used.
The source and upper reaches of the Yangtze are located inethnic Tibetan areas ofQinghai.[43] In Tibetan, the Tuotuo headwaters are theMachu (Tibetan:རྨ་ཆུ་,Wylie:rma-chu, lit. "Red Water"). The Tongtian is theDrichu (འབྲི་ཆུ་, 'Bri Chu'), literally "Water of the FemaleYak";transliterated intoChinese:直曲;pinyin:Zhíqū).
The river originates from several tributaries in the eastern part of theTibetan Plateau, two of which are commonly referred to as the "source." Traditionally, the Chinese government has recognized the source as the Tuotuo tributary at the base of a glacier lying on the west ofGeladandong Mountain in theTanggula Mountains. This source is found at33°25′44″N91°10′57″E / 33.42889°N 91.18250°E /33.42889; 91.18250 and while not the furthest source of the Yangtze, it is the highest source at 5,342 m (17,526 ft) above sea level. The true source of the Yangtze, hydrologically the longest river distance from the sea, is at Jari Hill at the head of theDam Qu tributary, approximately 365 km (227 mi) southeast of Geladandong.[44] This source was only discovered in the late 20th century and lies in wetlands at32°36′14″N94°30′44″E / 32.60389°N 94.51222°E /32.60389; 94.51222 and 5,170 m (16,960 ft) above sea level just southeast of Chadan Township inZadoi County,Yushu Prefecture, Qinghai.[45] As the historical spiritual source of the Yangtze, the Geladandong source is still commonly referred to as the source of the Yangtze since the discovery of the Jari Hill source.[44]
These tributaries join and the river then runs eastward throughQinghai (Tsinghai), turning southward down a deep valley at the border ofSichuan (Szechwan) andTibet to reachYunnan. In the course of this valley, the river's elevation drops from above 5,000 m (16,000 ft) to less than 1,000 m (3,300 ft). Thus, over the first 2,600 km (1,600 mi) of its length, the river has fallen more than 5,200 m (17,100 ft).[46]
It enters the basin of Sichuan atYibin. While in the Sichuan basin, it receives several large tributaries, increasing its water volume significantly. It then cuts throughMount Wushan borderingChongqing andHubei to create the famousThree Gorges. Eastward of the Three Gorges,Yichang is the first city on theYangtze Plain.
After entering Hubei province, the Yangtze receives water from a number of lakes. The largest of these lakes isDongting Lake, which is located on the border ofHunan and Hubei provinces, and is the outlet for most of the rivers in Hunan. AtWuhan, it receives its biggest tributary, theHan River, bringing water from its northern basin as far asShaanxi.
At the northern tip of Jiangxi province,Lake Poyang, the biggest freshwater lake in China, merges into the river. The river then runs throughAnhui andJiangsu, receiving more water from innumerable smaller lakes and rivers, and finally reaches theEast China Sea at Shanghai.
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 toHukou County, whereLake Poyang meets the river; the downstream part is from Hukou to Shanghai.
The origin of the Yangtze River has been dated by some geologists to about 45 million years ago in theEocene,[47] but this dating has been disputed.[48][49]
Although the mouth of theYellow River has fluctuated widely north and south of theShandong peninsula within the historical record, the Yangtze has remained largely static. Based on studies ofsedimentation rates, however, it is unlikely that the present discharge site predates thelate Miocene (c. 11Ma).[50] Prior to this, its headwaters drained south into theGulf of Tonkin along or near the course of the presentRed River.[51]
Afternoon in the jagged mountains rising from the Yangtze River gorge
The Yangtze River is important to the cultural origins ofsouthern China and Japan.[52] Human activity has been verified in theThree Gorges area as far back as 27,000 years ago,[53] and by the 5th millennium BC, the lower Yangtze was a major population center occupied by theHemudu andMajiabang cultures, both among the earliest cultivators of rice. By the 3rd millennium BC, the successorLiangzhu culture showed evidence of influence from theLongshan peoples of theNorth China Plain.[54] What is now thought of asChinese culture developed along the more fertileYellow River basin; the "Yue" people of the lower Yangtze possessed very different traditions –blackening their teeth, cutting their hairshort,tattooing their bodies, and living in small settlements among bamboo groves[55] – and were consideredbarbarous by the northerners.
The Central Yangtze valley was home to sophisticatedNeolithic cultures.[56] Later it became the earliest part of the Yangtze valley to be integrated into the North Chinese cultural sphere. (Northern Chinese were active there since theBronze Age).[57]
A map of theWarring States around 350 BC, showing the former coastline of the Yangtze delta
In the lower Yangtze, twoYue tribes, theGouwu in southernJiangsu and theYuyue in northernZhejiang, display increasing Zhou (i.e., North Chinese) influence starting in the 9th century BC. Traditional accounts[58] credit these changes to northern refugees (Taibo andZhongyong in Wu andWuyi in Yue) who assumed power over the local tribes, though these are generally assumed to be myths invented to legitimate them to other Zhou rulers. As the kingdoms ofWu andYue, they were famed as fishers, shipwrights, and sword-smiths. AdoptingChinese characters, political institutions, and military technology, they were among the most powerfulstates during the laterZhou. In the middle Yangtze, thestate of Jing seems to have begun in the upper Han River valley a minor Zhou polity, but it adapted to native culture as it expanded south and east into the Yangtze valley. In the process, it changed its name toChu.[59]
Whether native or nativizing, the Yangtze states held their own against the northern Chinese homeland: some lists credit them with three of theSpring and Autumn period'sFive Hegemons and one of theWarring States'Four Lords. They fell in against themselves, however. Chu's growing power led its rivalJin to support Wu as a counter. Wu successfully sacked Chu's capitalYing in 506 BC, but Chu subsequently supported Yue in its attacks against Wu's southern flank. In 473 BC,King Goujian of Yue fully annexed Wu and moved his court to itseponymous capital at modern Suzhou. In 333 BC, Chu finally united the lower Yangtze by annexing Yue, whose royal family was said to have fled south and established theMinyue kingdom inFujian.Qin was able to unite China by first subduingBa andShu on the upper Yangtze in modernSichuan, giving them a strong base to attack Chu's settlements along the river.
The state of Qin conquered the central Yangtze region, the previous heartland of Chu, in 278 BC, and incorporated the region into its expanding empire. Qin then used its connections along theXiang River to expand intoHunan, Jiangxi andGuangdong, setting up military commanderies along the main lines of communication. At thecollapse of the Qin Dynasty, these southern commanderies became the independentNanyue Empire underZhao Tuo while Chu and Hanvied with each other for control of the north.
Since theHan dynasty, the region of the Yangtze River grew ever more important to China's economy. The establishment of irrigation systems (the most famous one isDujiangyan, northwest of Chengdu, built during theWarring States period) made agriculture very stable and productive, eventually exceeding even theYellow River region. The Qin and Han empires were actively engaged in the agricultural colonization of the Yangtze lowlands, maintaining a system of dikes to protect farmland from seasonal floods.[60] By the Song dynasty, the area along the Yangtze had become among the wealthiest and most developed parts of the country, especially in the lower reaches of the river. Early in the Qing dynasty, the region calledJiangnan (that includes the southern part ofJiangsu, the northern part ofZhejiang andJiangxi, and the southeastern part ofAnhui) provided1⁄3–1⁄2 of the nation's revenues.
The Yangtze has long been the backbone of China's inland water transportation system, which remained particularly important for almost two thousand years, until the construction of the national railway network during the 20th century. TheGrand Canal connects the lower Yangtze with the major cities of theJiangnan region south of the river (Wuxi,Suzhou,Hangzhou) and with northern China (all the way fromYangzhou to Beijing). The less well known ancientLingqu Canal, connecting the upperXiang River with the headwaters of theGuijiang, allowed a direct water connection from the Yangtze Basin to thePearl River Delta.[61]
Historically, the Yangtze was the political boundary between north China and south China several times (seeHistory of China) because crossing the river was difficult. This occurred notably during theSouthern and Northern Dynasties, and theSouthern Song. Many battles took place along the river, the most famous being theBattle of Red Cliffs in 208 AD during theThree Kingdoms period.
The Yangtze was the site of naval battles between theSong dynasty andJurchenJin during theJin–Song wars. In theBattle of Caishi of 1161, the ships of the Jin emperorWanyan Liang clashed with theSong fleet on the Yangtze. Song soldiers fired bombs oflime andsulfur using trebuchets at the Jurchen warships. The battle was a Song victory that halted the invasion by the Jin.[62][63] TheBattle of Tangdao was another Yangtze naval battle in the same year.
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 theWu kingdom in the Three Kingdoms period, theEastern Jin Dynasty, and during theSouthern and Northern Dynasties andFive Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms periods. Only theMing occupied most parts of China from their capital atNanjing, though it later moved the capital to Beijing. TheROC capital was located inNanjing in the periods 1911–1912, 1927–1937, and 1945–1949.
Ten Thousand Miles of the Yangtze River, aMing dynasty landscape painting
TheJardine, the first steamship to sail the river, was built for the British firmJardine, Matheson & Co. in 1835. This small vessel was to carry passengers and mail betweenLintin Island,Macao, andHuangpu. However, the Chinese, draconian in their application of the rules relating to foreign vessels, were unhappy about a "fire-ship" steaming up the Canton River. The actingViceroy of Liangguang issued an edict warning that she would be fired on if she attempted the trip.[64] On theJardine's first trial run from Lintin Island the forts on both sides of theBogue opened fire and she was forced to turn back. The Chinese authorities issued a further warning insisting that the ship leave Chinese waters. TheJardine in any case needed repairs and was sent toSingapore.[65] Subsequently,Lord Palmerston, theForeign Secretary decided mainly on the "suggestions" ofWilliam Jardine to declare war on China. In mid-1840, a large fleet of warships appeared on the China coast, and with the first cannonball fired at a British ship, theRoyal Saxon, the British started thefirst of the Opium Wars.Royal Navy warships destroyed numerous shore batteries and Chinese warships, laying waste to several coastal forts along the way. Eventually, they pushed their way up north close enough to threaten theImperial Palace inBeijing itself.[64]
The 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.[64]
Yangtze in 1915Cruise boats on YangtzeA vehicle carrier on YangtzeA container carrier on Yangtze
Steamers came late to the upper river, the section stretching from Yichang to Chongqing. Freshets from Himalayan snowmelt created treacherous seasonal currents. But summer was better navigationally and thethree gorges, described as a "150-mile passage which is like the narrow throat of an hourglass," posed hazardous threats of crosscurrents, whirlpools and eddies, creating significant challenges to steamship efforts. Furthermore, Chongqing is 700 – 800 feet above sea level, requiring powerful engines to make the upriver climb. Junk travel accomplished the upriver feat by employing 70–80 trackers, men hitched to hawsers who physically pulled ships upriver through some of the most risky and deadly sections of the three gorges.[66]
Archibald John Little took an interest in Upper Yangtze navigation when in 1876, theChefoo Convention opened Chongqing to consular residence but stipulated that foreign trade might only commence once steamships had succeeded in ascending the river to that point. Little formed the Upper Yangtze Steam Navigation Co., Ltd. and builtKuling but his attempts to take the vessel further upriver than Yichang were thwarted by the Chinese authorities who were concerned about the potential loss of transit duties, competition to their native junk trade and physical damage to their craft caused by steamship wakes.Kuling was sold to China Merchants Steam Navigation Company for lower river service. In 1890, the Chinese government agreed to open Chongqing to foreign trade as long as it was restricted to native craft.
In 1895, theTreaty of Shimonoseki provided a provision which opened Chongqing fully to foreign trade. Little took up residence in Chongqing and builtLeechuan, to tackle the gorges in 1898. In MarchLeechuan completed the upriver journey to Chongqing but not without the assistance of trackers.Leechuan was not designed for cargo or passengers and if Little wanted to take his vision one step further, he required an expert pilot.[67]
In 1898, Little persuaded CaptainSamuel Cornell Plant to come out to China to lend his expertise. Captain Plant had just completed navigation ofPersia's UpperKarun River and took up Little's offer to assess the Upper Yangtze onLeechuan at the end of 1898. With Plant's design input, Little had SSPioneer built with Plant in command. In June 1900, Plant was the first to successfully pilot a merchant steamer on the Upper Yangtze from Yichang to Chongqing.Pioneer was sold toRoyal Navy after its first run due to threat from theBoxer Rebellion and renamed HMSKinsha. Germany's steamship effort that same year on SSSuixing ended in catastrophe. OnSuixing's maiden voyage, the vessel hit a rock and sunk, killing its captain and ending realistic hopes of regular commercial steam service on the Upper Yangtze.
In 1908, local Sichuan merchants and their government partnered with Captain Plant to form Sichuan Steam Navigation Company becoming the first successful service between Yichang and Chongqing. Captain Plant designed and commanded its two ships, SSShutung and SSShuhun. Other Chinese vessels came onto the run and by 1915, foreign ships expressed their interest too. Plant was appointed byChinese Maritime Customs Service as First Senior River Inspector in 1915. In this role, Plant installed navigational marks and established signaling systems.
He also wroteHandbook for the Guidance of Shipmasters on the Ichang-Chungking Section of the Yangtze River, a detailed and illustrated account of the Upper Yangtze's currents, rocks, and other hazards with navigational instruction. Plant trained hundreds of Chinese and foreign pilots and issued licenses and worked with the Chinese government to make the river safer in 1917 by removing some of the most difficult obstacles and threats with explosives. In August 1917, British Asiatic Petroleum became the first foreign merchant steamship on the Upper Yangtze. Commercial firms, Robert Dollar Company,Jardine Matheson,Butterfield and Swire andStandard Oil added their own steamers on the river between 1917 and 1919. Between 1918 and 1919, Sichuan warlord violence and escalating civil war put Sichuan Steam Navigational Company out of business.[68]Shutung was commandeered by warlords andShuhun was brought down river to Shanghai for safekeeping.[69]
In 1921, when Captain Plant died at sea while returning home to England, a Plant Memorial Fund was established to perpetuate Plant's name and contributions to Upper Yangtze navigation. The largest shipping companies in service, Butterfield & Swire, Jardine Matheson, Standard Oil, Mackenzie & Co., Asiatic Petroleum, Robert Dollar, China Merchants S.N. Co. and British-American Tobacco Co., contributed alongside international friends and Chinese pilots. In 1924, a 50-foot granite pyramidal obelisk was erected in Xintan, on the site of Captain Plant's home, in a Chinese community of pilots and junk owners. One face of the monument is inscribed in Chinese and another in English. Though recently relocated to higher ground ahead of the Three Gorges Dam, the monument still stands overlooking the Upper Yangtze River near Yichang, a rare collective tribute to a westerner in China.[70][71]
Standard Oil ran the tankers Mei Ping, Mei An and Mei Hsia, which were collectively destroyed on December 12, 1937, when Japanese warplanes bombed and sank the U.S.S. Panay. One of the Standard Oil captains who survived this attack had served on the Upper River for 14 years.[72]
Chinese Communist Party chairmanMao Zedong took staged swims in the river in 1956 and 1966 atWuhan in publicity stunts to demonstrate his health, also starting a swimming craze through party propaganda.[73][74]
In 2002,Danish adventurer and sailorTroels Kløvedal sailed up the Yangtze, from Shanghai to past the Three Gorges Dam, in the collectively owned "Nordkaperen"sailing ship. Kløvedal had spent 12 years preparing and gathering the required permissions, and with a crew of Danes, his family members, a Chinese interpreter and several localmaritime pilots, he became the first foreigner since 1949 to navigate the Yangtze.[75] His months-long journey was documented both in his 2004 book "Kineserne syr med lang tråd" and the TV show "Kløvedal i Kina" byDR.[76]
TheJetour Zongheng G700 became the first vehicle in history to successfully cross the Yangtze. The crossing took place on October 16, 2025 and took 22 minutes to complete.[77]
Tens of millions of people live in the floodplain of the Yangtze valley, an area that naturally floods every summer and is habitable only because it is protected by river dikes. The floods large enough to overflow the dikes have caused great distress to those who live and farm there. Floods of note include those of 1931, 1954, and 1998.
The1931 Central China floods or the Central China floods of 1931 were a series of floods that are generally considered among the deadliest natural disasters ever recorded, and almost certainly the deadliest of the 20th century (when pandemics and famines are discounted). Estimates of the total death toll range from 145,000 to between 3.7 million and 4 million.[78][79] The Yangtzeflooded again in 1935, causing great loss of life.
From June to September 1954, theYangtze River Floods were a series of catastrophic floodings that occurred mostly in Hubei Province. Due to unusually high volume of precipitation as well as an extraordinarily long rainy season in the middle stretch of the Yangtze River late in the spring of 1954, the river started to rise above its usual level in around late June. Despite efforts to open three important flood gates to alleviate the rising water by diverting it, the flood level continued to rise until it hit the historic high of 44.67 m in Jingzhou, Hubei and 29.73 m in Wuhan. The number of dead from this flood was estimated at 33,000, including those who died of plague in the aftermath of the disaster.
The1998 Yangtze River floods were a series of major floods that lasted from middle of June to the beginning of September 1998 along the Yangtze.[80]
In the summer of 1998, China experienced massive flooding of parts of theYangtze River, resulting in 3,704 dead, 15 million homeless and $26 billion in economic loss.[81] Other sources report a total loss of 4150 people, and 180 million people were affected.[82] A staggering 25 million acres (100,000 km2) were evacuated, 13.3 million houses were damaged or destroyed. The floods caused $26 billion in damages.[82]
In 2020, the Yangtze river saw the heaviest rainfall since 1961, with a 79% increase in June and July compared to the average for the period over the previous 41 years. A new theory suggested that abrupt reduction in emissions of greenhouse gases and aerosols, caused by shutdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic, was a key cause of the intense downpours. Over the past decades rainfall had decreased due to increase of aerosols in the atmosphere, and lower greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 caused the opposite effect – a major increase in rain. Such a dramatic reduction of aerosols caused a dramatic change in the various components of the climate system, but such sudden change of the climate system would be very different from changes in response to continuous but gradual policy-driven emissions reductions.[83]
Beginning in the 1950s, dams and dikes were built for flood control, land reclamation, irrigation, and control of diseases vectors such asblood flukes that causedSchistosomiasis. More than a hundred lakes were thusly cut off from the main river.[84] There were gates between the lakes that could be opened during floods. However, farmers and settlements encroached on the land next to the lakes although it was forbidden to settle there. When floods came, it proved impossible to open the gates since it would have caused substantial destruction.[85] Thus the lakes partially or completely dried up. For example,Baidang Lake shrunk from 100 square kilometers (39 sq mi) in the 1950s to 40 square kilometers (15 sq mi) in 2005.Zhangdu Lake dwindled to one quarter of its original size. Natural fisheries output in the two lakes declined sharply. Only a few large lakes, such asPoyang Lake andDongting Lake, remained connected to the Yangtze. Cutting off the other lakes that had served as natural buffers for floods increased the damage done by floods further downstream. Furthermore, the natural flow of migratory fish was obstructed and biodiversity across the whole basin decreased dramatically.Intensive farming of fish in ponds spread using one type ofcarp who thrived ineutrophic water conditions and who feeds on algae, causing widespread pollution. The pollution was exacerbated by the discharge of waste from pig farms as well as of untreated industrial and municipal sewage.[84][86] In September 2012, the Yangtze river near Chongqing turned red from pollution.[87] The erection of the Three Gorges Dam has created an impassable "iron barrier" that has led to a great reduction in the biodiversity of the river. Yangtze sturgeon use seasonal changes in the flow of the river to signal when is it time to migrate. However, these seasonal changes will be greatly reduced by dams and diversions. Other animals facing immediate threat of extinction are thebaiji dolphin,narrow-ridged finless porpoise and theYangtze alligator. These animals numbers went into freefall from the combined effects of accidental catches during fishing, river traffic, habitat loss and pollution. In 2006 the baiji dolphin became extinct; the world lost an entire genus.[88]
In 2020, a sweeping law was passed by the Chinese government to protect the ecology of the river. The new laws include strengthening ecological protection rules for hydropower projects along the river, banning chemical plants within 1 kilometer of the river, relocating polluting industries, severely restricting sand mining as well as a complete fishing ban on all the natural waterways of the river, including all its major tributaries and lakes.[89]
The Yangtze River produces moreocean plastic pollution than any other, according toThe Ocean Cleanup, a Dutch environmental research foundation that focuses onocean pollution. Ten rivers transport 90% of all the plastic that reaches the oceans, with the Yangtze River being the biggest polluter.[90][91]
In 2002 a pilot program was initiated to reconnect lakes to the Yangtze with the objective to increase biodiversity and to alleviate flooding. The first lakes to be reconnected in 2004 wereZhangdu Lake,Honghu Lake, andTian'e-Zhou in Hubei on the middle Yangtze. In 2005, Baidang Lake inAnhui was also reconnected.[86]
Reconnecting the lakes improved water quality and fish were able to migrate from the river into the lake, replenishing their numbers and genetic stock. The trial also showed that reconnecting the lake reduced flooding. The new approach also benefitted the farmers economically. Pond farmers switched to natural fish feed, which helped them breed better-quality fish that can be sold for more, increasing their income by 30%. Based on the successful pilot project, other provincial governments emulated the experience and also reestablished connections to lakes that had previously been cut off from the river. In 2005 a Yangtze Forum has been established bringing together 13 riparian provincial governments to manage the river from source to sea.[92] In 2006 China's Ministry of Agriculture made it a national policy to reconnect the Yangtze River with its lakes. As of 2010, provincial governments in five provinces and Shanghai set up a network of 40 effective protected areas, covering 16,500 km2 (6,400 sq mi). As a result, populations of 47 threatened species increased, including the critically endangered Yangtze alligator. In the Shanghai area, reestablished wetlands now protect drinking water sources for the city. It is envisaged to extend the network throughout the entire Yangtze to eventually cover 102 areas and 185,000 km2 (71,000 sq mi). The mayor ofWuhan announced that six huge, stagnating urban lakes including theEast Lake (Wuhan) would be reconnected at the cost of US$2.3 billion creating China's largest urban wetland landscape.[84][93]
The Yangtze River is the longest and most economically important river inAsia and the fifth largest in the world in terms of flow. It is also the largest river entirely within a single country. Its estuary had an estimated annual flow of 995.8 km3/a (31,550 m3/s) between 1955 and 2021.The last gauging station on the river is atDatong (30°50′57.9192″N117°43′47.4096″E / 30.849422000°N 117.729836000°E /30.849422000; 117.729836000). At this location, the water flow is regularly monitored. The chart below is based on average flows between 1950 and 2020.[1][94][2]
Map all coordinates in "Yangtze River bridges and tunnels" usingOpenStreetMapDownload coordinates asKML
Until 1957, there were no bridges across the Yangtze River fromYibin to Shanghai. For millennia, travelers crossed the river by ferry. On occasions, the crossing may have been dangerous, as evidenced by theZhong'anlun disaster (October 15, 1945).
The river stood as a major geographic barrier dividing northern and southern China. In the first half of the 20th century, rail passengers from Beijing to Guangzhou and Shanghai had to disembark, respectively, atHanyang andPukou, and cross the river by steam ferry before resuming journeys by train fromWuchang orNanjing West.
After the founding of the People's Republic in 1949, Soviet engineers assisted in the design and construction of theWuhan Yangtze River Bridge, a dual-useroad-rail bridge, built from 1955 to 1957. It was the first bridge across the Yangtze River. The second bridge across the river that was built was a single-track railway bridge built upstream in Chongqing in 1959. TheNanjing Yangtze River Bridge, also a road-rail bridge, was the first bridge to cross the lower reaches of the Yangtze, inNanjing. It was built after theSino-Soviet Split and did not receive foreign assistance. Road-rail bridges were then built inZhicheng (1971) and Chongqing (1980).
Bridge-building slowed in the 1980s before resuming in the 1990s and accelerating in the first decade of the 21st century. TheJiujiang Yangtze River Bridge was built in 1992 as part of theBeijing-Jiujiang Railway. Asecond bridge in Wuhan was completed in 1995. By 2005, there were a total of 56 bridges and one tunnel across the Yangtze River between Yibin and Shanghai. These include some of the longestsuspension andcable-stayed bridges in the world on the Yangtze Delta:Jiangyin Suspension Bridge (1,385 m, opened in 1999),Runyang Bridge (1,490 m, opened 2005),Sutong Bridge (1,088 m, opened 2008). The rapid pace of bridge construction has continued. The city of Wuhan now has six bridges and one tunnel across the Yangtze.
The Three Gorges Dam in 2006Diagram showing dams planned for the upper reaches of the Yangtze River
As of 2007, there are two dams built on the Yangtze River:Three Gorges Dam andGezhouba Dam. The Three Gorges Dam is thelargest power station in the world by installed capacity, at 22.5 GW. Several dams are operating or are being constructed on the upper portion of the river, theJinsha River. Among them, theBaihetan Dam is the second largest after the Three Gorges Dam, and theXiluodu Dam is the 4th largest power station in the world.
A shipyard on the banks of the Yangtze building commercial river freight boats
The Yangtze River has over 700tributaries. The major tributaries (listed from upstream to downstream) with the locations of where they join the Yangtze are:
As of 2011[update], 416 fish species are known from the Yangtzebasin, including 362 that strictly are freshwater species. The remaining are also known from salt orbrackish waters, such as the river'sestuary or theEast China Sea. This makes it one of the most species-rich rivers in Asia and by far the most species-rich in China (in comparison, thePearl River has almost 300 fish species and theYellow River 160).[95] 178 fish species are endemic to the Yangtze River Basin.[95] Many are only found in some section of the river basin and especially the upper reach (aboveYichang, but below the headwaters in theQinghai-Tibet Plateau) is rich with 279 species, including 147 Yangtze endemics and 97 strict endemics (found only in this part of the basin). In contrast, the headwaters, where the average altitude is above 4,500 m (14,800 ft), are only home to 14 highly specialized species, but 8 of these are endemic to the river.[95] The largest orders in the Yangtze areCypriniformes (280 species, including 150 endemics),Siluriformes (40 species, including 20 endemics),Perciformes (50 species, including 4 endemics),Tetraodontiformes (12 species, including 1 endemic) andOsmeriformes (8 species, including 1 endemic). No other order has more than four species in the river and one endemic.[95]
Thesilver carp is native to the river, but has (like otherAsian carp) been spread through large parts of the world withaquaculture.
The largest threats to the Yangtze native fish areoverfishing and habitat loss (such as building of dams andland reclamation), but pollution,destructive fishing practices (such asfishing with dynamite or poison) andintroduced species also cause problems.[95] About2⁄3 of the total freshwater fisheries in China are in the Yangtze Basin,[106] but a drastic decline in size of several important species has been recorded, as highlighted by data from lakes in the river basin.[95] In 2015, some experts recommend a 10-year fishing moratorium to allow the remaining populations to recover,[107] and in January 2020 China imposed a 10-year fishing moratorium on 332 sites along the Yangtze.[108] Dams present another serious problem, as several species in the river perform breedingmigrations and most of these are non-jumpers, meaning that normalfish ladders designed forsalmon are ineffective.[95] For example, theGezhouba Dam blocked the migration of the paddlerfish and two sturgeon,[98][99][104] while also effectively splitting theChinese high fin banded shark population into two[109] and causing theextirpation of the Yangtze population of theJapanese eel.[110] In an attempt of minimizing the effect of the dams, theThree Gorges Dam has released water to mimic the (pre-dam) natural flooding and trigger the breeding of carp species downstream.[111] In addition to dams already built in the Yangtze basin, several large dams are planned and these may present further problems for the native fauna.[111]
Due to commercial use of the river, tourism, and pollution, the Yangtze is home to several seriously threatened species of large animals (in addition to fish): thenarrow-ridged finless porpoise,baiji (Yangtze river dolphin),Chinese alligator,Yangtze giant softshell turtle andChinese giant salamander. This is the only other place besides the United States that is native to an alligator and paddlefish species. In 2010, the Yangtze population of finless porpoise was 1000 individuals. In December 2006, the Yangtze river dolphin was declaredfunctionally extinct after an extensive search of the river revealed no signs of the dolphin's inhabitance.[113] In 2007, a large, white animal was sighted and photographed in the lower Yangtze and was tentatively presumed to be abaiji.[114] However, as there have been no confirmed sightings since 2004, thebaiji is presumed to be functionally extinct at this time.[115] "Baijis were the last surviving species of a large lineage dating back seventy million years and one of only six species of freshwater dolphins." It has been argued that the extinction of the Yangtze river dolphin was a result of the completion of the Three Gorges Dam, a project that has affected many species of animals and plant life found only in the gorges area.[116]
Numerous species of land mammals are found in the Yangtze valley, but most of these are not directly associated with the river. Three exceptions are the semi-aquaticEurasian otter,water deer andPère David's deer.[117]
The entirely aquaticChinese giant salamander is the world's largest amphibian, reaching up to 1.8 m (5.9 ft) in length.[118]
More than 160amphibian species are known from the Yangtze basin, including the world's largest, the critically endangered Chinese giant salamander.[120] It has declined drastically due to hunting (it is considered adelicacy), habitat loss and pollution.[118] The pollutedDian Lake, which is part of the upper Yangtze watershed (viaPudu River), is home to several highly threatened fish, but was also home to theYunnan lake newt. This newt has not been seen since 1979 and is considered extinct.[121][122] In contrast, theChinese fire belly newt from the lower Yangtze basin is one of the few Chinese salamander species to remain common and it is consideredleast concern by the IUCN.[122][123][124]
The Yangtze basin contains a large number offreshwater crab species, including several endemics.[127] A particularly rich genus in the river basin is thepotamidSinopotamon.[128] TheChinese mitten crab is catadromous (migrates between fresh and saltwater) and it has been recorded up to 1,400 km (870 mi) up the Yangtze, which is the largest river in its native range.[126] It is a commercially important species in its native range where it is farmed,[125] but the Chinese mitten crab has also been spread to Europe and North America where consideredinvasive.[126]
The freshwater jellyfishCraspedacusta sowerbii, now an invasive species in large parts of the world, originates from the Yangtze.[129]
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![Golden Island on the Yangtze near Zhenjiang in Jiangsu, as it was in the mid-19th century[131]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aGolden_Island%2c_on_The_Yang-Tse_River%2c_China_(LMS%2c_1869%2c_p.64).jpg)
