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79-723: The Chinese name comes from a fabled river in the classic novel Journey to the West . In antiquity, it was called the Yak River. In Mongolian , this section is known as the Murui-ussu ( Муруй-Ус , lit.  "Winding Water") and is sometimes confused with the nearby Baishui . The three principal headwaters—the Chumaer, Muluwusu, and Akedamu rivers—join to form the Tongtian River, which flows southeast to Zhimenda near

158-845: A 50-foot granite pyramidal obelisk was erected in Xintan, on the site of Captain Plant's home, in a Chinese community of pilots and junk owners. One face of the monument is inscribed in Chinese and another in English. Though recently relocated to higher ground ahead of the Three Gorges Dam, the monument still stands overlooking the Upper Yangtze River near Yichang, a rare collective tribute to a westerner in China. Standard Oil ran

237-635: A disciple of the Buddha . Tang Sanzang's original family name was Chen, the posthumous son of Palace Graduate Chen Guangrui and Yin Wenjiao, the daughter of chief minister Yin Kaishen. After being awarded the first place in a national examination, Chen Guangrui was appointed Prefect of Jiangzhou (modern Jiujiang) . While on his way to take office, he was murdered by a ferryman named Liu Hong, who also abducts his wife and takes his place as Prefect. When Chen's son

316-745: A large fleet of warships appeared on the China coast, and with the first cannonball fired at a British ship, the Royal Saxon , the British started the first of the Opium Wars . Royal Navy warships destroyed numerous shore batteries and Chinese warships, laying waste to several coastal forts along the way. Eventually, they pushed their way up north close enough to threaten the Imperial Palace in Beijing itself. The China Navigation Company

395-517: A monk, his Dharma name is Xuánzàng ( 玄奘 ; literally meaning "Great Mystery"). Later, upon swearing brotherhood with the Tang Emperor , he gains the new surname , Tang ( 唐 ), and for the pilgrimage, he is called by the new given-name/ epithet , Sānzàng ( 三藏 , lit. The "Three Baskets"; referring to the Tripiṭaka ), but is also widely known by his courtesy name Tang Seng ( 唐僧 , lit.

474-525: A new economic belt alongside the river. The Yangtze flows through a wide array of ecosystems and is habitat to several endemic and threatened species, including the Chinese alligator , the narrow-ridged finless porpoise , and also was the home of the now extinct Yangtze river dolphin (or baiji ) and Chinese paddlefish , as well as the Yangtze sturgeon , which is extinct in the wild . In recent years,

553-475: A swimming craze through party propaganda. In 2002, Danish adventurer and sailor Troels Kløvedal sailed up the Yangtze, from Shanghai to past the Three Gorges Dam, in the collectively owned "Nordkaperen" sailing ship . Kløvedal had spent 12 years preparing and gathering the required permissions, and with a crew of Danes, his family members, a Chinese interpreter and several local maritime pilots , he became

632-720: Is also called the Jīng Jiāng ( 荆江 ; 荊江 ) or the "Jing River" after Jingzhou , one of the Nine Provinces of ancient China. In Anhui , the river takes on the local name Wǎn Jiāng after the shorthand name for Anhui, wǎn (皖). Yángzǐ Jiāng ( 揚子江 ; 扬子江 ) or the "Yangzi River", from which the English name Yangtze is derived, is the local name for the Lower Yangtze in the region of Yangzhou . The name likely comes from an ancient ferry crossing called Yángzǐ or Yángzǐjīn ( 揚子 / 揚子津 ). Europeans who arrived in

711-571: Is born, Yin Wenjiao puts the baby on a wooden board and sets him floating adrift down the Yangzi River , out of fear of him being killed by Liu Hong. The baby reaches Gold Mountain Monastery and is found by the Abbot, who gives him the nickname "Jiāngliú" ( 江流 , lit. "River Float"). The abbot sees that River Float is taken care of, and when he grows up and becomes a Buddhist novice, he gives him

790-518: Is depicted as a female monk or nun but this is mostly in Japan. Yangtze Yangtze or Yangzi ( English: / ˈ j æ ŋ t s i / or / ˈ j ɑː ŋ t s i / simplified Chinese : 长江 ; traditional Chinese : 長江 ; pinyin : Cháng Jiāng ; lit. 'long river') is the longest river in Eurasia and the third-longest in the world. It rises at Jari Hill in

869-414: Is mythical, but also it is known for its "sutra bridge" and "Gyiana Mani stones". The Tongtian is planned for heavy development, primarily for hydroelectric power. As of March 2014 a total of 10 dams are planned for the river. Those dams are listed below from downstream to upstream. Tongtian River (fictional river) Tang Sanzang is a Buddhist monk and pilgrim who is a central character in

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948-473: Is often described as a god of protection. Ksitigarbha , a highly revered bodhisattva in East Asian Buddhism , is occasionally mistaken for Tang Sanzang because the former is often portrayed like Tang Sanzang - dressed in a similarly patterned kasaya robe, wearing a Buddhist crown (an Ushnisha or a Black Crown ), and wielding a khakkhara staff. In some depictions or media sometimes Sanzang

1027-757: Is the official name for the Yangtze in Mandarin Chinese . However, the Chinese have given different names to the upstream sections of the river up to its confluence with the Min River at Yibin , Sichuan. Jinsha River ("Gold Sands River") refers to the 2,308 km (1,434 mi) of the Yangtze from Yibin upstream to the confluence with the Batang River near Yushu in Qinghai, while the Tongtian River ("River that leads to Heaven") describes

1106-642: The Dharma name Xuanzang. When Xuanzang turns 18, he is reunited with his father, whose body was saved from death by the Dragon King of River Hong; together they look for Lady Yin and bring Liu Hong to justice. He is sent by the Emperor Taizong on a mission to Tianzhu (an ancient Chinese name for India ) to fetch a set of Mahayana Buddhist scriptures back to China for the purpose of spreading Buddhism in his native land. He becomes sworn brothers with

1185-555: The Han River , bringing water from its northern basin as far as Shaanxi . At the northern tip of Jiangxi province, Lake Poyang , the biggest freshwater lake in China, merges into the river. The river then runs through Anhui and Jiangsu , receiving more water from innumerable smaller lakes and rivers, and finally reaches the East China Sea at Shanghai. Four of China's five main freshwater lakes contribute their waters to

1264-651: The Han dynasty , the region of the Yangtze River grew ever more important to China's economy. The establishment of irrigation systems (the most famous one is Dujiangyan , northwest of Chengdu, built during the Warring States period) made agriculture very stable and productive, eventually exceeding even the Yellow River region. The Qin and Han empires were actively engaged in the agricultural colonization of

1343-728: The Jiangnan region south of the river ( Wuxi , Suzhou , Hangzhou ) and with northern China (all the way from Yangzhou to Beijing). The less well known ancient Lingqu Canal , connecting the upper Xiang River with the headwaters of the Guijiang , allowed a direct water connection from the Yangtze Basin to the Pearl River Delta . Historically, the Yangtze was the political boundary between north China and south China several times (see History of China ) because crossing

1422-478: The Middle Chinese pronunciation of 江 as Kæwng . By the mid-19th century, these romanizations had standardized as Kiang ; Dajiang , e.g., was rendered as "Ta-Kiang." "Keeang-Koo," "Kyang Kew," "Kian-ku," and related names derived from mistaking the Chinese term for the mouth of the Yangtze ( 江口 , p   Jiāngkǒu ) as the name of the river itself. The name Blue River began to be applied in

1501-687: The Shanghai concessions subsequently turned it into a backwater, Yangzhou was the lower river's principal port for much of the Qing dynasty , directing Liangjiang 's important salt monopoly and connecting the Yangtze with the Grand Canal to Beijing. (That connection also made it one of the Yellow River 's principal ports between the floods of 1344 and the 1850s, during which time the Yellow River ran well south of Shandong and discharged into

1580-551: The Spring and Autumn period 's Five Hegemons and one of the Warring States ' Four Lords . They fell in against themselves, however. Chu's growing power led its rival Jin to support Wu as a counter. Wu successfully sacked Chu's capital Ying in 506 BC, but Chu subsequently supported Yue in its attacks against Wu's southern flank. In 473 BC, King Goujian of Yue fully annexed Wu and moved his court to its eponymous capital at modern Suzhou. In 333 BC, Chu finally united

1659-603: The Tanggula Mountains of the Tibetan Plateau and flows 6,300 km (3,915 mi) in a generally easterly direction to the East China Sea . It is the fifth-largest primary river by discharge volume in the world . Its drainage basin comprises one-fifth of the land area of China , and is home to nearly one-third of the country's population . The Yangtze has played a major role in the history , culture , and economy of China . For thousands of years,

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1738-531: The Tibetan Plateau , two of which are commonly referred to as the "source." Traditionally, the Chinese government has recognized the source as the Tuotuo tributary at the base of a glacier lying on the west of Geladandong Mountain in the Tanggula Mountains . This source is found at 33°25′44″N 91°10′57″E  /  33.42889°N 91.18250°E  / 33.42889; 91.18250 and while not

1817-615: The Tripitaka , which is the Sanskrit name for collections of ancient Buddhist scriptures. In most English translations of Journey to the West , including the authoritative translation by Anthony Yu, his name is rendered as Tripitaka. In the novel, he takes the name Tang after becoming an oath brother of Emperor Taizong of the Tang dynasty . Tang Sanzang is a Buddhist monk who is a reincarnation of Golden Cicada ( Chinese : 金蟬子 ),

1896-494: The Yangtze River Delta region applied this local name to the whole river. The dividing site between upstream and midstream is considered to be at Yichang and that between midstream and downstream at Hukou ( Jiujiang ). The river was called Quian ( 江 ) and Quianshui ( 江水 ) by Marco Polo and appeared on the earliest English maps as Kian or Kiam , all recording dialects which preserved forms of

1975-571: The Yue . Similar to *krong in Proto-Vietnamese and krung in Mon , all meaning "river", it is related to modern Vietnamese sông (river) and Khmer krung (city on riverside), whence Thai krung (กรุง capital city), not kôngkea (water) which is from the Sanskrit root gáṅgā . By the Han dynasty , Jiāng had come to mean any river in Chinese, and this river was distinguished as

2054-513: The "Great River" 大江 ( Dàjiāng ). The epithet 長 ( simplified version 长 ), meaning "long", was first formally applied to the river during the Six Dynasties period. Various sections of the Yangtze have local names. From Yibin to Yichang , the river through Sichuan and Chongqing Municipality is also known as the Chuān Jiāng ( 川江 ) or " Sichuan River ". In Hubei , the river

2133-534: The "Tang Monk"). The title Sānzàng refers to his mission to seek the Sanzangjing , or the "Three Collections of (Buddhist Great vehicle ) Scriptures". In some English translations of Journey to the West , the title is rendered as Tripitaka which is the original Sanskrit term for the Sanzangjing . His name Tang Sanzang reflects his status as an oath brother of Emperor Taizong of the Tang dynasty . The monk's title Sanzang refers to his mission to seek

2212-427: The 16th century novel Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en . Tang Sanzang is based on the historical Tang dynasty monk Xuanzang . Tang Sanzang's birth surname name was Chen ( 陳 ), but having been found in a river as a baby—he was abandoned after birth—he was given the name Jiāng Liú ( 江流 ; this given name literally meaning "River Float", a nod to the fact that he was found in a river). When he first became

2291-465: The 18th century, apparently owing to a former name of the Dam Chu or Min and to analogy with the Yellow River , but it was frequently explained in early English references as a 'translation' of Jiang , Jiangkou , or Yangzijiang . Very common in 18th- and 19th-century sources, the name fell out of favor due to growing awareness of its lack of any connection to the river's Chinese names and to

2370-615: The 3rd millennium BC, the successor Liangzhu culture showed evidence of influence from the Longshan peoples of the North China Plain . What is now thought of as Chinese culture developed along the more fertile Yellow River basin; the " Yue " people of the lower Yangtze possessed very different traditions – blackening their teeth , cutting their hair short , tattooing their bodies, and living in small settlements among bamboo groves – and were considered barbarous by

2449-680: The 813 km (505 mi) section from Yushu up to the confluence of the Tuotuo River and the Dangqu River . In Old Chinese , the Yangtze was simply called Jiang/Kiang 江 , a character of phono-semantic compound origin, combining the water radical 氵 with the homophone 工 (now pronounced gōng , but *kˤoŋ in Old Chinese ). Kong was probably a word in the Austroasiatic language of local peoples such as

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2528-563: The 9th century BC. Traditional accounts credit these changes to northern refugees ( Taibo and Zhongyong in Wu and Wuyi in Yue) who assumed power over the local tribes, though these are generally assumed to be myths invented to legitimate them to other Zhou rulers. As the kingdoms of Wu and Yue , they were famed as fishers, shipwrights, and sword-smiths. Adopting Chinese characters , political institutions, and military technology, they were among

2607-607: The Chinese government to make the river safer in 1917 by removing some of the most difficult obstacles and threats with explosives. In August 1917, British Asiatic Petroleum became the first foreign merchant steamship on the Upper Yangtze. Commercial firms, Robert Dollar Company, Jardine Matheson , Butterfield and Swire and Standard Oil added their own steamers on the river between 1917 and 1919. Between 1918 and 1919, Sichuan warlord violence and escalating civil war put Sichuan Steam Navigational Company out of business. Shutung

2686-793: The Emperor of the Tang dynasty , and the emperor sees him off from the capital Chang'an with two escorts to accompany him. This contrasts with the historical Xuanzang, who disobeyed the Emperor's orders against foreign travel and did not have his permission. Tang Sanzang is helpless at defending himself and his two escorts are killed during his first encounter with demons after his departure from Chang'an. The bodhisattva Guanyin helps Tang Sanzang find three powerful supernatural beings— Sun Wukong , Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing (a monkey, pig and fish spirit, respectively)—to aid and protect him on his journey. The three become Tang Sanzang's disciples and receive enlightenment and redemption for their past sins once

2765-661: The Scorpion Spirit and the Golden-Nose Mouse Spirit. At the end of the novel, Tang Sanzang is appointed as the Buddha of Sandalwood Merit. This is a nod to the fact that, in Buddhism, sandalwood (and, by extension, sandalwood incense) is seen as having the power to distil purity by burning-away negative spiritual impurities; Tang Sanzang, as Golden Cicada, had dismissed the Buddha's teachings and-so

2844-551: The Upper Yangtze on Leechuan at the end of 1898. With Plant's design input, Little had SS Pioneer built with Plant in command. In June 1900, Plant was the first to successfully pilot a merchant steamer on the Upper Yangtze from Yichang to Chongqing. Pioneer was sold to Royal Navy after its first run due to threat from the Boxer Rebellion and renamed HMS Kinsha . Germany's steamship effort that same year on SS Suixing ended in catastrophe. On Suixing's maiden voyage,

2923-492: The Yangtze River. Traditionally, the upstream part of the Yangtze River refers to the section from Yibin to Yichang; the middle part refers to the section from Yichang to Hukou County , where Lake Poyang meets the river; the downstream part is from Hukou to Shanghai. The origin of the Yangtze River has been dated by some geologists to about 45 million years ago in the Eocene , but this dating has been disputed. Although

3002-575: The Yangtze are located in ethnic Tibetan areas of Qinghai . In Tibetan, the Tuotuo headwaters are the Machu ( Tibetan : རྨ་ཆུ་ , Wylie : rma-chu , lit. "Red Water"). The Tongtian is the Drichu ( འབྲི་ཆུ་ , ‘Bri Chu’), literally "Water of the Female Yak "; transliterated into Chinese : 直曲 ; pinyin : Zhíqū ). The river originates from several tributaries in the eastern part of

3081-517: The Yangtze lowlands, maintaining a system of dikes to protect farmland from seasonal floods. By the Song dynasty, the area along the Yangtze had become among the wealthiest and most developed parts of the country, especially in the lower reaches of the river. Early in the Qing dynasty, the region called Jiangnan (that includes the southern part of Jiangsu , the northern part of Zhejiang and Jiangxi , and

3160-516: The course of the present Red River . The Yangtze River is important to the cultural origins of southern China and Japan. Human activity has been verified in the Three Gorges area as far back as 27,000 years ago, and by the 5th millennium BC, the lower Yangtze was a major population center occupied by the Hemudu and Majiabang cultures , both among the earliest cultivators of rice. By

3239-684: The deadliest natural disasters ever recorded, and almost certainly the deadliest of the 20th century (when pandemics and famines are discounted). Estimates of the total death toll range from 145,000 to between 3.7 million and 4 million. The Yangtze flooded again in 1935 , causing great loss of life. From June to September 1954, the Yangtze River Floods were a series of catastrophic floodings that occurred mostly in Hubei Province. Due to unusually high volume of precipitation as well as an extraordinarily long rainy season in

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3318-494: The demon before she got away. Tang Sanzang, convinced that Wukong had actually killed three innocent people, sent him away, despite protests. Tang Sanzang usually punishes him by chanting the words of the Tight-Fillet Spell ( Chinese : 緊箍咒 ) given to Tang Sanzang by the bodhisattva Guanyin to control Wukong, which causes the latter's headband to contract and give him acute headaches. Like Sun Wukong, Tang Sanzang

3397-575: The famous Three Gorges . Eastward of the Three Gorges, Yichang is the first city on the Yangtze Plain . After entering Hubei province, the Yangtze receives water from a number of lakes. The largest of these lakes is Dongting Lake , which is located on the border of Hunan and Hubei provinces, and is the outlet for most of the rivers in Hunan. At Wuhan , it receives its biggest tributary,

3476-430: The first foreigner since 1949 to navigate the Yangtze. His months-long journey was documented both in his 2004 book "Kineserne syr med lang tråd" and the TV show "Kløvedal i Kina" by DR . In August 2019, Welsh adventurer Ash Dykes became the first person to complete the 4,000-mile (6,400 km) trek along the course of the river, walking for 352 days from its source to its mouth. Tens of millions of people live in

3555-433: The floodplain of the Yangtze valley, an area that naturally floods every summer and is habitable only because it is protected by river dikes. The floods large enough to overflow the dikes have caused great distress to those who live and farm there. Floods of note include those of 1931, 1954, and 1998. The 1931 Central China floods or the Central China floods of 1931 were a series of floods that are generally considered among

3634-415: The frontier between Qinghai and Sichuan provinces, where it becomes the Jinsha River ( Jinsha Jiang ) . The Jinsha River is a primary tributary of the Yangtze River ( Chang Jiang ) . The Tongtian River is one of the five large rivers flowing from headwaters on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau . Its length is 1,012 kilometres, draining an area of 138,000 square kilometres. Pilgrims go to the river because it

3713-648: The furthest source of the Yangtze, it is the highest source at 5,342 m (17,526 ft) above sea level. The true source of the Yangtze, hydrologically the longest river distance from the sea, is at Jari Hill at the head of the Dam Qu tributary, approximately 325 km (202 mi) southeast of Geladandong. This source was only discovered in the late 20th century and lies in wetlands at 32°36′14″N 94°30′44″E  /  32.60389°N 94.51222°E  / 32.60389; 94.51222 and 5,170 m (16,960 ft) above sea level just southeast of Chadan Township in Zadoi County , Yushu Prefecture , Qinghai. As

3792-510: The historical Xuanzang, a wise and learned scholar (he was in his late 20s when he left for India), the fictional Tang Sanzang is presented as a young monk who is extremely naive, showing idealistic compassion without wisdom. Tang Sanzang is usually quick to fall for the facades of demons who have disguised themselves as innocent humans, as he cannot recognize them, whereas Sun Wukong can. This frequently leads to tension when Sun Wukong tries to protect him from such threats. One such popular instance

3871-399: The historical spiritual source of the Yangtze, the Geladandong source is still commonly referred to as the source of the Yangtze since the discovery of the Jari Hill source. These tributaries join and the river then runs eastward through Qinghai (Tsinghai), turning southward down a deep valley at the border of Sichuan (Szechwan) and Tibet to reach Yunnan . In the course of this valley,

3950-431: The irony of its application to such a muddy waterway. Matteo Ricci 's 1615 Latin account included descriptions of the "Ianſu" and "Ianſuchian." The posthumous account's translation of the name as Fils de la Mer ("Son of the Ocean") shows that Ricci, who by the end of his life was fluent in literary Chinese, was introduced to it as the homophonic 洋子江 rather than the usual 揚子江 . Further, although railroads and

4029-423: The lower Yangtze by annexing Yue, whose royal family was said to have fled south and established the Minyue kingdom in Fujian . Qin was able to unite China by first subduing Ba and Shu on the upper Yangtze in modern Sichuan , giving them a strong base to attack Chu's settlements along the river. The state of Qin conquered the central Yangtze region, the previous heartland of Chu, in 278 BC, and incorporated

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4108-450: The middle stretch of the Yangtze River late in the spring of 1954, the river started to rise above its usual level in around late June. Despite efforts to open three important flood gates to alleviate the rising water by diverting it, the flood level continued to rise until it hit the historic high of 44.67 m in Jingzhou, Hubei and 29.73 m in Wuhan. The number of dead from this flood was estimated at 33,000, including those who died of plague in

4187-442: The most powerful states during the later Zhou . In the middle Yangtze, the state of Jing seems to have begun in the upper Han River valley a minor Zhou polity, but it adapted to native culture as it expanded south and east into the Yangtze valley. In the process, it changed its name to Chu . Whether native or nativizing, the Yangtze states held their own against the northern Chinese homeland: some lists credit them with three of

4266-427: The most risky and deadly sections of the three gorges. Archibald John Little took an interest in Upper Yangtze navigation when in 1876, the Chefoo Convention opened Chongqing to consular residence but stipulated that foreign trade might only commence once steamships had succeeded in ascending the river to that point. Little formed the Upper Yangtze Steam Navigation Co., Ltd. and built Kuling but his attempts to take

4345-404: The mouth of the Yellow River has fluctuated widely north and south of the Shandong peninsula within the historical record, the Yangtze has remained largely static. Based on studies of sedimentation rates , however, it is unlikely that the present discharge site predates the late Miocene ( c.  11 Ma ). Prior to this, its headwaters drained south into the Gulf of Tonkin along or near

4424-457: The northerners. The Central Yangtze valley was home to sophisticated Neolithic cultures. Later it became the earliest part of the Yangtze valley to be integrated into the North Chinese cultural sphere. (Northern Chinese were active there since the Bronze Age ). In the lower Yangtze, two Yue tribes, the Gouwu in southern Jiangsu and the Yuyue in northern Zhejiang , display increasing Zhou (i.e., North Chinese) influence starting in

4503-473: The ocean a mere few hundred kilometers from the mouth of the Yangtze. ) By 1800, English cartographers such as Aaron Arrowsmith had adopted the French style of the name as Yang-tse or Yang-tse Kiang . The British diplomat Thomas Wade emended this to Yang-tzu Chiang as part of his formerly popular romanization of Chinese , based on the Beijing dialect instead of Nanjing's and first published in 1867. The spellings Yangtze and Yangtze Kiang

4582-512: The periods 1911–12, 1927–37, and 1945–49. The Jardine , the first steamship to sail the river, was built for Jardine, Matheson & Co. in 1835. This small vessel was to carry passengers and mail between Lintin Island , Macao , and Huangpu . However, the Chinese, draconian in their application of the rules relating to foreign vessels, were unhappy about a "fire-ship" steaming up the Canton River. The acting Viceroy of Liangguang issued an edict warning that she would be fired on if she attempted

4661-462: The pilgrimage is complete. Along the journey, Tang Sanzang is constantly terrorised by monsters and demons due to a legend which says that one can attain immortality by consuming his flesh because he is a reincarnation of a holy being. One of his disciples is caught by a monster, and the other falls into the Tongtian River, also known as the River of Communion with Heaven. Not to mention, there are several attempts on marrying him made by demons such as

4740-409: The region into its expanding empire. Qin then used its connections along the Xiang River to expand into Hunan , Jiangxi and Guangdong , setting up military commanderies along the main lines of communication. At the collapse of the Qin Dynasty , these southern commanderies became the independent Nanyue Empire under Zhao Tuo while Chu and Han vied with each other for control of the north. Since

4819-439: The river has been used for water, irrigation, sanitation, transportation, industry, boundary-marking, and war. The Yangtze Delta generates as much as 20% of China's GDP , and the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze is the largest hydro-electric power station in the world that is in use . In mid-2014, the Chinese government announced it was building a multi-tier transport network , comprising railways, roads and airports to create

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4898-474: The river has suffered from industrial pollution, plastic pollution , agricultural runoff , siltation , and loss of wetland and lakes, which exacerbates seasonal flooding. Some sections of the river are now protected as nature reserves . A stretch of the upstream Yangtze flowing through deep gorges in western Yunnan is part of the Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas , a UNESCO World Heritage Site . Cháng Jiāng ( 长江 ; 長江 ) or " Long River "

4977-407: The river was difficult. This occurred notably during the Southern and Northern Dynasties , and the Southern Song . Many battles took place along the river, the most famous being the Battle of Red Cliffs in 208 AD during the Three Kingdoms period. The Yangtze was the site of naval battles between the Song dynasty and Jurchen Jin during the Jin–Song wars . In the Battle of Caishi of 1161,

5056-475: The river's elevation drops from above 5,000 m (16,000 ft) to less than 1,000 m (3,300 ft). Thus, over the first 2,600 km (1,600 mi) of its length, the river has fallen more than 5,200 m (17,100 ft). It enters the basin of Sichuan at Yibin . While in the Sichuan basin, it receives several large tributaries, increasing its water volume significantly. It then cuts through Mount Wushan bordering Chongqing and Hubei to create

5135-573: The run and by 1915, foreign ships expressed their interest too. Plant was appointed by Chinese Maritime Customs Service as First Senior River Inspector in 1915. In this role, Plant installed navigational marks and established signaling systems. He also wrote Handbook for the Guidance of Shipmasters on the Ichang-Chungking Section of the Yangtze River , a detailed and illustrated account of the Upper Yangtze's currents, rocks, and other hazards with navigational instruction. Plant trained hundreds of Chinese and foreign pilots and issued licenses and worked with

5214-406: The ships of the Jin emperor Wanyan Liang clashed with the Song fleet on the Yangtze. Song soldiers fired bombs of lime and sulfur using trebuchets at the Jurchen warships. The battle was a Song victory that halted the invasion by the Jin. The Battle of Tangdao was another Yangtze naval battle in the same year. Politically, Nanjing was the capital of China several times, although most of

5293-408: The southeastern part of Anhui ) provided 1 ⁄ 3 – 1 ⁄ 2 of the nation's revenues. The Yangtze has long been the backbone of China's inland water transportation system, which remained particularly important for almost two thousand years, until the construction of the national railway network during the 20th century. The Grand Canal connects the lower Yangtze with the major cities of

5372-427: The tankers Mei Ping, Mei An and Mei Hsia, which were collectively destroyed on December 12, 1937, when Japanese warplanes bombed and sank the U.S.S. Panay. One of the Standard Oil captains who survived this attack had served on the Upper River for 14 years. Chinese Communist Party chairman Mao Zedong took staged swims in the river in 1956 and 1966 at Wuhan in publicity stunts to demonstrate his health, also starting

5451-415: The time its territory only covered the southeastern part of China, such as the Wu kingdom in the Three Kingdoms period, the Eastern Jin Dynasty , and during the Southern and Northern Dynasties and Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms periods. Only the Ming occupied most parts of China from their capital at Nanjing , though it later moved the capital to Beijing. The ROC capital was located in Nanjing in

5530-468: The trip. On the Jardine's first trial run from Lintin Island the forts on both sides of the Bogue opened fire and she was forced to turn back. The Chinese authorities issued a further warning insisting that the ship leave Chinese waters. The Jardine in any case needed repairs and was sent to Singapore . Subsequently, Lord Palmerston , the Foreign Secretary decided mainly on the "suggestions" of William Jardine to declare war on China. In mid-1840,

5609-420: The vessel further upriver than Yichang were thwarted by the Chinese authorities who were concerned about the potential loss of transit duties, competition to their native junk trade and physical damage to their crafts caused by steamship wakes. Kuling was sold to China Merchants Steam Navigation Company for lower river service. In 1890, the Chinese government agreed to open Chongqing to foreign trade as long as it

5688-445: The vessel hit a rock and sunk, killing its captain and ending realistic hopes of regular commercial steam service on the Upper Yangtze. In 1908, local Sichuan merchants and their government partnered with Captain Plant to form Sichuan Steam Navigation Company becoming the first successful service between Yichang and Chongqing. Captain Plant designed and commanded its two ships, SS Shutung and SS Shuhun . Other Chinese vessels came onto

5767-632: Was a compromise between the two methods adopted at the 1906 Imperial Postal Conference in Shanghai, which established postal romanization . Hanyu Pinyin was adopted by the PRC's First Congress in 1958, but it was not widely employed in English outside mainland China prior to the normalization of diplomatic relations between the United States and the PRC in 1979; since that time, the spelling Yangzi has also been used. The source and upper reaches of

5846-479: Was an early shipping company founded in 1876 in London, initially to trade up the Yangtze River from their Shanghai base with passengers and cargo. Chinese coastal trade started shortly after, and in 1883 a regular service to Australia was initiated. Steamers came late to the upper river, the section stretching from Yichang to Chongqing. Freshets from Himalayan snowmelt created treacherous seasonal currents. But summer

5925-509: Was better navigationally and the three gorges , described as a "150-mile passage which is like the narrow throat of an hourglass," posed hazardous threats of crosscurrents, whirlpools and eddies, creating significant challenges to steamship efforts. Furthermore, Chongqing is 700 – 800 feet above sea level, requiring powerful engines to make the upriver climb. Junk travel accomplished the upriver feat by employing 70–80 trackers, men hitched to hawsers who physically pulled ships upriver through some of

6004-568: Was commandeered by warlords and Shuhun was brought down river to Shanghai for safekeeping. In 1921, when Captain Plant died at sea while returning home to England, a Plant Memorial Fund was established to perpetuate Plant's name and contributions to Upper Yangtze navigation. The largest shipping companies in service, Butterfield & Swire, Jardine Matheson, Standard Oil, Mackenzie & Co., Asiatic Petroleum, Robert Dollar, China Merchants S.N. Co. and British-American Tobacco Co., contributed alongside international friends and Chinese pilots. In 1924,

6083-874: Was restricted to native crafts. In 1895, the Treaty of Shimonoseki provided a provision which opened Chongqing fully to foreign trade. Little took up residence in Chongqing and built Leechuan , to tackle the gorges in 1898. In March Leechuan completed the upriver journey to Chongqing but not without the assistance of trackers. Leechuan was not designed for cargo or passengers and if Little wanted to take his vision one step further, he required an expert pilot. In 1898, Little persuaded Captain Samuel Cornell Plant to come out to China to lend his expertise. Captain Plant had just completed navigation of Persia 's Upper Karun River and took up Little's offer to assess

6162-547: Was sentenced to re-incarnate as a Buddhist ten consecutive times to distil himself spiritually, expelling spiritual impurities until only purity was left, ultimately achieving Buddhahood, making him the "Buddha of Sandalwood Merit". Tang Sanzang is modeled after the historical Tang dynasty Buddhist monk Xuanzang , whose life was the book's inspiration; the real Xuanzang made a perilous journey on foot from China to India (and back) to obtain Buddhist sutras . In contrast to

6241-488: Was when the White Bone Demon disguised three times as family members—first, a young woman. After Wukong "killed" the woman, the demon escaped, but Wukong was punished by Tang Sanzang for it. The second was the young woman's elderly mother, looking for her daughter. The third was the young woman's elderly father, searching for his wife and child. Upon the "death" of the father by Wukong's hands, Wukong finally killed

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