Yangtze River

The Yangtze River ({{zh-cp|c=扬子江|p=Yángzǐ Jiāng}}) is the longest river in Asia and the third longest in the world after the Amazon in South America and the Nile in Africa. The name Yangzi Jiang, although more well known to non-Chinese, is the more historical or poetic name for the river. The more vernacular and modern Chinese name for the river is Chang Jiang ({{zh-stpl|t=長江 |s=长江|p=Cháng Jiāng|l=Long River}}), and this name is also found on many modern maps in English.

Characteristics

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, the Three Gorges Dam now spans the river, flooding Fengjie, the first of a number of towns affected by the massive flood control and power generation project. The project is the largest comprehensive irrigation project in the world. It will free people living along the river from floods that have repeatedly threatened them in the past, and will also offer them electricity and water transport - though at the expense of permanently flooding many existing towns and causing large-scale changes in local ecology.

Related Topics:
East China Sea - Three Gorges Dam - June 2003 - Fengjie - Irrigation - Floods - Electricity - Water transport - Ecology

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The river is the sole habitat of the critically endangered Chinese River Dolphin and Chinese paddlefish.

Related Topics:
Endangered - Chinese River Dolphin - Chinese paddlefish

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The river is a major transportation artery for China connecting the interior with the coast. River traffic includes commercial traffic transporting bulk goods such as coal as well as manufactured goods and passengers. River cruises of several days duration especially through the beautiful and scenic Three Gorges area are becoming popular as a tourism industry grows in China.

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Flooding along the river has been a major problem, most recently in 1998, but more disastrously the 1954 Yangtze river floods killed around 30,000 people. Other severe floods include those of 1911 which killed around 100,000, 1931 (145,000 dead) and 1935 (142,000 dead).

Related Topics:
1998 - 1954 Yangtze river floods - 1911 - 1931 - 1935

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