The largest rivers in China. What are the major rivers and lakes of China? Water pride of Eurasia

The Yangtze is longest river in china and throughout the Eurasian continent. Its length is about six thousand kilometers, which can allow it to compete with such large rivers as the Nile and the Amazon. The source of the river is in the center of the Tibetan plateau.

The river most likely got its name from the ancient ferry crossing, whose name was the Yangtze. This was usually the first word that merchants from Europe who arrived here could hear, so this name stuck to the river. However, in China, the name Yangtze has long been outdated, and now only poets use this name in their poems and poems. And the current name of the river - chang jiang, and it translates as long river».

Based on the fact that yangtze river very long then locals in different parts of it they called it differently, because the times were ancient and there were no special movements of peoples, so everyone called their section of the river as they saw fit and took it for the truth. For example, in its upper reaches the river was called Dangku (which means swamp river). A little further downstream, the locals gave the river the name Tuotuo, and further down, Tongtian (it's more of a philosophical name, which means a river that runs through the sky).

And there are many such names. And this is no coincidence. 'Cause the river comes out Himalayan ice, at an altitude of more than five thousand meters above sea level, then it travels a relatively short distance and reaches a thousand meters above sea level. Naturally, such differences and features could not pass by the inhabitants who settled along the banks of the river, and they gave this great river their names.

Flowing like a storm among mountains, Yangtze It is very well fed from its tributaries, after which its channel expands noticeably. And reaching the borders of the Yangtze mountain range, it collides with the greatest hydraulic structure in the world - a dam called "Sanxia". I must say that the Chinese use the potential of this river, as they say to the fullest. A number of dams have been built here, and several more are in the planning and development stage.

China has a huge number of rivers, lakes and reservoirs. It is not possible to disassemble even some of them, so today we will consider only the most major rivers in China. There are two main rivers in China - the Yangtze (blue river) and the Yellow River (yellow river). Let's talk about them briefly. This review is part of a comprehensive guide to China.

Rivers of China

Meaning water resources for China, as well as for other countries of the world, it is difficult to overestimate. China is one of the ten most full-flowing countries, annually transporting millions of tons of cargo and food through its waterways. Recent years China is actively changing the direction of rivers, building barrier dams and changing the natural landscape in every possible way. In the future, this cannot but have a negative impact on the development of the country. Nevertheless, today, as in many years to come, China's rivers will serve as a critical component of economic success.

The largest rivers in China

Judging by the length, fullness and economic importance, two main rivers in China stand out clearly. They are called the Yangtze, which is commonly called the blue river and the Yellow River, the second name of which is the yellow river in China. In turn, these two rivers are ranked fourth and fifth in the list of the longest rivers in the world.

The Yangtze River in China is the longest, even the literal translation of the Yangtze means long river. It stretches for a distance of about 6,000 kilometers along a large territory of China. Originating from the peaks of Tibet, the blue Yangtze River flows through more than ten provinces and flows into the sea near Shanghai. For several millennia, one of China's two main rivers, the Yangtze, has been the source of life for millions of Chinese and other peoples who inhabit the territory of modern China.

Continuing the story of the largest rivers in China, one cannot fail to mention one of the longest rivers in the world, the Yellow Yellow River. The Huang He received its second name for the characteristic yellow color of the water. The Yellow River in China, the Yellow River, as well as the Yangtze, is China's most important waterway. She gave and continues to give life to a huge number of people living on its shores. The length of the Yellow River is about 5500 kilometers, which makes it one of the longest rivers in the world and one of the two largest rivers in China.

Lots of rivers. The rivers of China can be large and small, calm and rather turbulent, short and long. In short, they are as different as China itself.

Yangtze

The largest river in China, with a total length of 6300 kilometers, second only to the Amazon and the Nile in this indicator. It originates in the mountains of Geladandong and makes its way through eleven provinces. The landscapes of the river are constantly changing, for which the locals call it the “river of contrasts”.

The Yangtze is navigable for almost its entire length and is the most convenient waterway in the country. In addition, it conditionally divides China into two parts: northern and southern. On the banks of the river are Largest cities countries: Nanjing; Wuhan; Chongqing; .

Zhujiang

Zhujiang (also called the Pearl River) passes through the territory of eight provinces. Such unusual name gave the river an island on it. The water polished its shores so carefully that they became surprisingly smooth and in this way resemble the surface of a pearl.

The Pearl River is of particular interest to the guests of the country. It is extraordinarily beautiful at night, when the numerous bridges connecting its banks are illuminated. The banks of the river surprise with a large number of attractions located here.

Huanghe

This is the second largest river in the country (5464 kilometers), taking its source in the Tibetan Plateau. The Yellow River is translated as "Yellow River" because of the special color of its water. IN summer time there is a huge amount of silt in its waters. It is during this period that the river is especially full of water and often overflows its banks.

Liaohe

The Liaohe is a major river in northeastern China. The very first mention of it dates back to 475-221. BC. The river has two sources at once. One is located in the east, the other in the west.

heilongjiang

Heilongjiang runs along the border of the territory and China. And if for the Chinese this river is called Heilongjiang, then for us it is our native Amur. The river bends the territory of China from the east and flows into the waters Sea of ​​Okhotsk. The total length of Heilongjiang is 4370 kilometers and it is the eleventh longest river on the planet.

The Heilongjiang riverbed passes through amazingly picturesque places. If you look at it from a bird's eye view, it surprisingly resembles a black dragon. Which, in fact, is reflected in its name.

Hangang

Hangang (or Hanshui River) is one of the powerful tributaries of the Yangtze, with a length of 1532 kilometers. According to historians, it was she who gave the name to the kingdom of Han and one of the royal dynasties - also Han.

One of the attractions of China is its rivers. If we add up the lengths of all, then total get 220 thousand km.

The water arteries of the country form the internal and external systems. Outer rivers flow into the sea or have access to the ocean. inland rivers a little, and they are at a significant distance from each other, flow into lakes or get lost in swamps and deserts. In many parts of China's rivers have become shallow.

Among the abundance of rivers, there are those that are known to the whole world and enjoy special love among tourists - the Huang He, the Yangtze, the Zhujiang.

Huanghe

This is one of the largest rivers in Asia. Translated into Russian, it means "Yellow River". And its water is actually yellow. This color gives it sand. It, in turn, flows into the Yellow Sea. It is believed that it was on the banks of this that the Chinese ethnos began its history and formation. That is why the Yellow River of China is rich in tourism resources, and the whole history of the great Chinese people is reflected on its banks. That is why the river tours offered by numerous travel agencies are quite popular. Huang He was included in the list of twelve state tourist routes.

On the banks of the river you can meet peoples who have managed to preserve their original and colorful customs. There are quite a lot of monuments of architecture, antiquity, culture. There is always something to see here. These are statues of warriors and horses in the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, Buddhist relics in Shanxi province, the legendary Shaolin wushu school and much more. Unique landscapes amaze with their beauty.

Yangtze

This river is also called Blue. Arriving in the Middle Kingdom, you probably expect to see clean and clear waters. But it's not. In fact, the Yangtze is rather muddy, and it most likely got its name in opposition to the Yellow River. Another common name is Long river", or Changjiang. And this is - pure truth, because this water artery is one of the longest and deepest in Eurasia. Its length is 6 thousand km, and in some places it reaches a width of 2.5 km!

The Blue River of China has many sights and beauties. For example, its shores are formed mainly by mountains covered with green vegetation and steep gorges. Tiger Leaping Gorge upstream- the deepest in the world. The height of the stone walls is 2 thousand meters, and the height of the mountains towering above it reaches 4 thousand meters! Of the man-made "miracles" of the dam and hydroelectric power station, which are the largest in the world.

Zhujiang

The Pearl River of China also got its name not at all because it contains pearls, but because of the island that lies in the middle of the channel. This is a rock that over time was polished by nature almost to a radiant sheen, which is why it began to resemble a pearl. The island is called the Sea Pearl. Zhujiang ranks third in the ranking of "China's longest rivers" with a score of 2129 km.

One of the most favorite entertainments for tourists is a cruise on night river in Guangzhou. A magnificent picture opens up to tourists: the bright lights of the city are reflected in the dark jade waters. Everything looks quite romantic!

How more territory, the more likely it is that this territory will contain a large number of water arteries, large and small rivers, and water reservoirs, seas and freshwater lakes. This statement, in any case, is equally true both for Russia and for its great neighbor - China, the third largest country in the world in terms of area.

There is, however, one significant difference between Russia and China in this sense - inland seas not in Heaven.

Due to the "enormity" of the territory of the Chinese People's Republic and a number of her geographical features(for example, the apparent uneven distribution of the water resources of this country), the number of rivers in this country cannot be established accurately; it is only known that there are no less than one and a half thousand and up to five thousand of them in the Celestial Empire, and the “total capacity”, that is, the area of ​​\u200b\u200btheir basin exceeds 1000 square meters. km.

At the same time, according to the official indicator of the annual flow (2600 billion cubic meters), China occupies one of the first places in the world.

By the way, in some sources, the number of rivers in China is brought up to 50,000 and it is said that China de "abounds in rivers." True, they, these same sources, in no way indicate how such a calculation was carried out, and what was the method of this calculation itself.

Some of these rivers are included in the category of "most-most", such as the famous Irtysh, left, main tributary no less famous Obi- the longest tributary river on the planet, flowing through three countries at once - China, where its source is located (on the border of Mongolia, in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region), Kazakhstan and Russia. As a tributary of the Ob flows into the Ob Bay of the Kara Sea.

Length - 4248 km, the area of ​​​​the basin of this river - 1643 thousand square meters. km.

And most big river on the Indochina peninsula, the waters of which also flow through the lands of the Celestial Empire and five more states South-East Asia(Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam), is Mekong, it is also the "River of the Nine Dragons", the length of which is about 4,500 km, and the basin area is 810 thousand square meters. km. The Mekong carries its waters to the South China Sea.

The Mekong is well known in Europe and the US, primarily due to Francis Ford Coppola's anti-war films Apocalypse Now (1979) and Oliver Stone's Platoon (1986) about the US war in Vietnam.

Another river from the "most-most" - Huanghe, famous " Yellow River”, one of the largest in all of Asia, major river ancient history China, in the basin of which the formation and further development of the modern Chinese ethnic group took place. The Huang He flows into the Yellow Sea.

The length of the Yellow River is 5464 km, the basin area is 752 thousand square meters. km.

And the river Brahmaputra, whose waters flow immediately into three countries– in China, India and Bangladesh – an influx of another famous river, Ganges, one of the largest in South Asia. Its length is 2896 km, and the basin area is 651,334 sq. km, which, as they say, "inspire". It flows into the Indian Ocean.

The main rivers of China - TOP-10

The list of the main water arteries of the Celestial Empire published here is rather subjective and therefore may differ in one way or another from the information previously published in official sources. The main criterion in compiling this list was the length of the rivers mentioned in it.

1. yangtze,
2. Huang He (Yellow River)
3. Heilongjiang (Amur),
4. Songhua,
5. Zhujiang (Pearl River),
6. Brahmaputra,
7. mekong,
8. Nujiang,
9. hangang,
10. Liaohe.

The information for this list was taken from Runet publications on the geography and hydrography of the People's Republic of China.

Apparently, due to the fact that only its origins are in China, the aforementioned Irtysh is absent from this list, but the right, most major tributary Amur is the Sungari river, which is almost two times shorter than the Irtysh.

The longest river in China is the main navigable river

The longest and deep river The Eurasian continent is the Yangtze River, the basin of which covers almost a fifth of all the lands of the Middle Kingdom, and almost a third of the entire current population of the People's Republic of China lives on its banks.

The length of the Yangtze is about 6300 sq. km, and the area of ​​​​its basin simply cannot but impress - 1,808,500 km, this is the third largest river in the world, after the Amazon and the Nile, the longest in China and the main navigable river of this country.

The ancient fast-moving Yangtze or, literally, the "Long River", whose source is located at the peak of Geladandong of the Tanggulashan mountain range, changing its names along its entire length, is another important waterway in the history of China, its culture and economy, because here, in the lower reaches of this great river, once the civilization of South China was born, several times it was a natural border between North and South China.

Many important battles took place on the banks of the Yangtze, which had an undeniable impact on the entire further course of the history of the Celestial Empire in ancient times and the early Middle Ages.