长江流域简介(英文)长江流域简介(英文).doc

Yangtze River Basin in Brief The Yangtze River, traversing the West, Middle and East China, is the largest river in the country and the third largest in the world. It occupies the most important strategic position for allocation of water resources to support eco-social sustainable development in China. 1. Natural Status The mainstrean of the Yangtze River originated from the southwestern side of the snow-Capped Mountain of the Geladandong—the main peak of Tanggula Mountains on the Qinghai and Tibet Plateau, passing through China’s 11 provinces (or autonomous regions or the municipalities directly under the Central Government), including Qinghai, Tibet, Yunnan, Sichuan, Chongqing, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui and Jiangsu, and finally enters into the East China Sea in Shanghai, with a total length of more than 6300 km and total fall head of more than 5400 m. Its tributaries extended 8 provinces and autonomous regions including Gansu, Sanxi, Henan, Guizhou, Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian and Zhejiang. The Yangtze basin involves a catchment area of 1.8 million km2, accounting for 18.75% of China’s total. The Yangtze River has its source stream from the Tuotuo River, after converging with the south source Dangqu River it is called Tongtian River, and then it is named Jinsha River after merging with the north source Chumar River and joined by Batang River at Yushu, and finally it is named the Yangtze River after joined by Minjiang River at Yibin in Sichuang Province. For the Yangtze River, the reach between Yibin and Yichang is called Chuanjiang River; the reach between Zhicheng and Chenglingji is called Jingjiang River. With a large water system and numerous tributaries and lakes, the Yangtze River Basin possesses 8 main tributaries with a catchment area of more than 80000 km2, including Yalong River, Minjiang River, Jialing River, Wujiang River, Yuanjiang River, Xiangjiang River, Hanjiang River and Ganjiang River, among them Jialing River is the biggest in terms o