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The river originates in a glacier lying on the west of Geladandong Mountain in the Dangla Mountain Range on the eastern part of the Tibetan plateau. It runs eastward through 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. In its descent to sea level, the river falls to an altitude of 305 m at Yibin, Sichuan Province, the head of navigation for riverboats.
After entering the basin of Sichuan at Yibin, 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. While in Hubei, the Yangtze receives more water from thousands of lakes. The largest of these lakes is Dongting Lake, on the border of Hunan and Hubei. At Wuhan, it receives its biggest tributary, the Han River, bringing water from as far as Shaanxi.
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.
(Source: www.wikipedia.org - 18/05/09) |
