Changjiang

THE CHANGJIANG cuts through the heart of CHINA and is regarded by the Chinese as the geographical marker dividing the country into north and south. It winds its way through the 10 provinces of Qinghai, Tibet, Yunnan, Sichuan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui, Jiangsu and Shanghai before reaching the East China Sea. Its fertile ALLUVIAL PLAINs produce great amounts of wheat, cotton, tobacco and silk. The Changjiang or Yangzi River dominates the center of China both north-south and east-west. It is thus one of the major factors affecting China’s future industrialization and food production.

Changjiang means “long river” and that it is. China’s Changjiang is the third-longest river in the world (after the AMAZON and NILE). It is over 3,960 mi (6,300 km) long and comparable in economic importance to the MISSISSIPPI in the UNITED STATES. Originating in the Tanggula Shan of eastern Tibet, the Changjiang passes through and links the fertile Red Basin of Sichuan province with the THREE GORGES and their new and massive hydroelectric project as well as the central food basket provinces of Hunan-Hubeh. It finally exits to the sea at Shanghai. Altogether it links eight provinces, several major urban and industrial cities and innumerable ecological regions.

The Changjiang is China’s longest navigable river; ocean-going ships are still able to pass as far inland as the Municipality (an autonomous city) of Chongqing. It also is China’s major hydroelectric focus. The Three Gorges Project is designed to provide clean electric power to all of Sichuan and as far eastward as the Shanghai economic cluster. Just from Sichuan to Shanghai, the Changjiang corridor produces 40 percent of the nation’s grain, including 70 percent of the rice, 33 percent of the cotton, 48 percent of the freshwater fish, and over 40 percent of the total industrial output, which is likely to increase significantly with completion of the Three Gorges project. And with an abundance of fresh water, there are plans to divert some to water-deficit areas in North China.