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98-580: The bridges and tunnels across the Yangtze River carry rail and road traffic across China 's longest and largest river and form a vital part of the country's transportation infrastructure. The river bisects China proper from west to east, and every major north–south bound highway and railway must cross the Yangtze. Large urban centers along the river such as Chongqing , Wuhan , and Nanjing also have urban mass transit rail lines crossing

196-845: 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

294-1098: A crack was discovered in one girder of the Luzhou Yangtze River Bridge, leading to bridge closure and emergency repairs. Bridges over the Yangtze including some of the longest and tallest bridges in the world. [REDACTED] Tonghu Railway , Tongsujiayong Railway main bridge north stream south stream south stream 6,772 m (22,218 ft) (railway part) main bridge [REDACTED] S001 left strean right stream 10,521 m (34,518 ft) (railway part) [REDACTED] Shanghang HSR Wuhu metro line 1 [REDACTED] Hefu HSR Lutong Railway 望东长江大桥 7,675 m (25,180 ft) (railway part) 武穴长江大桥 棋盘洲长江大桥 [REDACTED] G50 [REDACTED] G70 黄冈长江大桥 [REDACTED] G4201 Yangtze River 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')

392-585: A dozen other bridges are now under construction. In December 2020 a new bridge is planned to be opened, the Wufengshan Yangtze River Bridge with 4 + 4 highway lanes on the upper deck and 4 railway tracks in the lower deck. In the upper reaches of the Yangtze above Yibin, the Jinsha (Gold Sands) , Tongtian , and Tuotuo sections of the river are narrower and bridges are more numerous. As of December 2014, Yibin had 10 bridges across

490-762: A frontier command office in the town called the Shenchuan Iron Bridge jiedushi . The bridge facilitated trade between the two countries until 794 when the Nanzhao realigned with the Tang dynasty and destroyed the bridge in a war with the Tibetan Empire. The oldest bridge still in use on the Yangtze is the Jinlong Bridge in Lijiang , a simple iron chain suspension bridge first built during

588-745: 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

686-420: 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

784-484: A walk-way several places in the Three Gorges region. Poles were inserted into the holes and then either a walkway could be constructed or a person could walk from pole to pole. Historians do not know why these particular holes were constructed, nor do they know why they only reach part of the way up the cliff face. Remains of city walls have been located at the top of the cliff, and some historians have theorized that

882-523: Is a bridge along the Jinsha section of the Yangtze. The Yangtze River forms a major geographic barrier dividing northern and southern China . For millennia, travelers crossed the Yangtze by ferry. In the first half of the 20th century, rail passengers from Beijing to Guangzhou and Shanghai had to disembark, respectively, at Hanyang and Pukou , and cross the river by steam ferry before resuming journeys by train. The earliest recorded pontoon bridge over

980-567: Is a rock shaped like an upside down person. This is the Hanging Monk Rock (倒吊和尚). According to legend, when Meng Liang discovered that the monk had feigned a rooster call, and frightened him off the mountain, he was so angry that he found the monk and hung him upside down from the cliff face. Along the cliff face near the Chalk Wall and Meng Liang's Stairway there are a number of caves . Dripping water from natural springs within

1078-637: Is a white cliff face on the southern bank of the Yangtze River at the entrance to the Qutang Gorge (Kuimen Gate). The Chalk Wall has numerous characters carved into the rock, many of which were done by famous Chinese calligraphers . Nearly 1,000 characters in all are carved into the rock wall, with the oldest dating to the Song dynasty (960–1279). The wall has characters carved in many different styles of calligraphy and in various sizes. The largest characters are approximately 1.7 metres (6 ft) wide. On

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1176-522: Is found at 33°25′44″N 91°10′57″E  /  33.42889°N 91.18250°E  / 33.42889; 91.18250 and while not 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

1274-569: 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 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 ,

1372-734: Is part of Fengjie County of the Chongqing Municipality. Baidicheng was an ancient city on the northern shore of the Yangtze River. Baidicheng was also where Liu Bei , first emperor of the Kingdom of Shu during the Three Kingdoms era, died. There is a Liu Bei Memorial Temple and a Zhuge Liang Memorial Temple in Baidicheng. Baidicheng is a major tourist attraction of a Yangtse cruise. The Chalk Wall (粉筆牆)

1470-585: 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, the Han River , bringing water from its northern basin as far as Shaanxi . At

1568-673: Is the longest river in Eurasia and the third-longest in the world. It rises at Jari Hill in 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

1666-507: The Beijing dialect instead of Nanjing's and first published in 1867. The spellings Yangtze and Yangtze Kiang 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

1764-540: 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

1862-728: 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

1960-456: The Jinsha and Tongtian sections where the Yangtze is much narrower, although numerous new bridges are being added. The oldest bridge still in use is the Jinlong, a simple suspension bridge over the Jinsha section of the river in Lijiang , Yunnan that was originally built in 1880 and rebuilt in the 1936. Due to changes in the designation of the source of the Yangtze, various sections of

2058-566: 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 the northerners. The Central Yangtze valley

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2156-753: The Northern Zhou general Chen Teng built a crude suspension bridge across the Xiling Gorge using thick rope and reeds to carry food and provisions for his troops on the south bank. The bridge was cut apart by boats lined with sharp knives sent down river by the Chen general Zhang Shaoda. During the Tang dynasty, a pontoon bridge was built in Sangouzhen in the Qutang Gorge in 619. In 974, during

2254-535: The Qing dynasty from 1876 to 1880. It was destroyed in a flood in 1935 and rebuilt the following year. The bridge was named a National Historical Site in 2006. Iron chain bridges are more durable than pontoon bridges and allow for year-round use, although when the river level is high during the flood season, boards on the bridge deck must be removed. The first permanent bridge to cross the Chang Jiang section of

2352-512: 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 the course of the present Red River . The Yangtze River is important to

2450-676: The Song Emperor Zhao Kuangyin 's conquest of the Southern Tang , a pontoon over 1,000 meters long linked together by bamboo chains was erected in just three days at Caishiji ( Ma'anshan , Anhui Province ) and enabled the Song Army to advance swiftly across the river and capture Nanjing , the Southern Tang capital. The Taiping rebels made extensive use of pontoons on the Yangtze in their campaign against

2548-551: 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

2646-632: 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 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

2744-474: The country's population . The Yangtze has played a major role in the history , culture , and economy of China . For thousands of years, 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

2842-642: 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 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

2940-747: 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 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

3038-736: The 2000s were built in Chongqing Municipality, which became a directly controlled municipality in 1997 to facilitate the construction of the Three Gorges and experienced a building boom. By 2005, there were over 50 bridges across the Yangtze River between Yibin and Shanghai. The rapid pace of bridge construction has continued. The first tunnel under the Yangtze opened in Wuhan in 2008. As of December 2014, urban Chongqing has 18 bridges, Wuhan has nine bridges and three tunnels, and Nanjing has five bridges and two tunnels. About

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3136-563: 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

3234-607: 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

3332-504: 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 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,

3430-610: The Female Yak "; transliterated into Chinese : 直曲 ; pinyin : Zhíqū ). The river originates from several tributaries in the eastern part of 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

3528-540: The Jinsha and Panzhihua had 16. The Taku Jinsha River Bridge , under construction in Lijiang, is set to become the highest bridge in the world with a bridge deck that is 512 m (1,680 ft) above the surface of the river. With the advent of economic growth around the country and widespread use of heavy freight trucks , bridges along the Yangtze have been bearing greater load, leading to greater strain on older bridge structures. The Jiujiang Yangtze River Bridge

3626-568: The Qing dynasty in the Yangtze Basin. On 30 December 1852, they built two pontoons nearly 3,000 meters long in a fortnight's time at Baishazhou and Yingwuzhou in Wuhan to move troops from Hanyang on the north bank to the Wuchang on the south bank. The Taipings tied together small boats into twos and threes and steered these preassembled pieces simultaneously into the river, and used iron anchors to set

3724-528: The Qutang Gorge has been especially large. Many of the historically significant sites in the Qutang Gorge are located closer to the water level. Even prior to the dam construction the water level would come close to many sites during the rainy season. The water has now covered many of the important sites in the Gorge including the Ancient Pathway, Meng Liang's Staircase, the Chalk Wall, and the cave within

3822-551: 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,

3920-510: 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 the mouth of the Yellow River has fluctuated widely north and south of

4018-692: The Yangtze in the Three Gorges to block invading armies. Notable examples include the iron chain defense of the Wu Kingdom in the Xiling Gorge against the Jin dynasty in 280, the Former Shu 's chain across Kuimen in the Qutang Gorge against the Jingnan in 925, and Song general Xu Zongwu's seven-link chain at the same location against the Mongols in 1264. The first documented iron chain bridge across

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4116-415: 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

4214-420: The Yangtze was the Jiangguan Pontoon Bridge built in AD 35 by Gongsun Shu , the ruler of Sichuan , in the war with the Han Emperor Liu Xiu . Gongsun Shu built the pontoon across a narrow part of the river between Jingmen and Yichang in (modern Hubei Province ) to block the Han Emperor's navy from sailing upriver into Sichuan. The pontoon was burned in battle and Liu Xiu went on to capture Sichuan. In 570,

4312-455: The Yangtze. Pontoon bridges have been used by militaries for two thousand years on the Yangtze, but until the completion of the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge in 1957, there were no permanent bridges along the main stretch of the river known as Chang Jiang (the " Long River "), from Yibin to the river mouth in Shanghai , a distance of 2,884 km (1,792 mi). Since then, over 75 bridges and six tunnels have been built over this stretch,

4410-726: The aftermath of the disaster. The 1998 Yangtze River floods were a series of major floods that lasted from middle of June to the beginning of September 1998 along the Yangtze. In the summer of 1998, China experienced massive flooding of parts of the Yangtze River , resulting in 3,704 dead, 15 million homeless and $ 26 billion in economic loss. Other sources report a total loss of 4150 people, and 180 million people were affected. A staggering 25 million acres (100,000 km ) were evacuated, 13.3 million houses were damaged or destroyed. The floods caused $ 26 billion in damages. The 2016 China floods caused US$ 22 billion in damages. Qutang Gorge The gorge

4508-431: The caves have created many stalactites . One particular stalactite is approximately 10 metres (33 ft) high, and it is shaped like a Phoenix displaying its tail feathers. Moss and bamboo growing next to the formation look like feathers on a bird. Water still drips from the head of the stalactite bird, and hence the Chinese have dubbed it the Drinking Phoenix Spring (鳳凰泉). The formation is extremely difficult to see from

4606-406: The cliff's vertical faces such as mountains, are placed in caves in the face of cliffs, or sit on natural rock projections on mountain faces. A rock formation that resembles a rhinoceros with head raised. The Daxi settlement was the first discovered site of the Daxi culture . Although the Qutang Gorge is the furthest upstream of all the affected gorges, the impact of the Three Gorges Dam on

4704-423: 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 the 3rd millennium BC, the successor Liangzhu culture showed evidence of influence from

4802-549: 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

4900-540: The earliest days, boats going downstream used oars just to get steerage way. Going upstream, human powered oars were no match to the rapid current. Thus gangs of humans, harnessed to a tow rope, hauled the boats upstream. These haulers needed a path along the steep cliffs to walk on. Thus the Ancient Pathways were built. Even today haulers can be seen as in 天山網. Over the years, these paths were expanded and improved. In addition to paths for haulers, paths were built for hauling goods up mountains. These higher paths would survive

4998-418: 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 the famous Three Gorges . Eastward of the Three Gorges, Yichang

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5096-430: 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

5194-406: The flooding after the Three Gorges Dam is complete. Hanging coffins are a method of ceremonially placing the corpses of the deceased upon cliff sides, an ancient funeral custom of some minority groups , especially the Bo people of southern China. Coffins of various significant shapes were often carved out of a whole piece of wood. Hanging coffins either rest upon beams projecting outward from

5292-433: 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

5390-423: 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

5488-427: The lower reaches of the Yangtze. It was built from 1960 to 1968, after the Sino-Soviet split , and did not receive foreign assistance. The Zhicheng Road-Rail Bridge followed in 1971. Only two bridges opened in the 1980s, the Chongqing's First Shibanpo Bridge in 1980 and the Luzhou Road Bridge in 1982. Both were in the upper reaches of Changjiang in Sichuan Province, to which Chongqing Municipality belonged at

5586-450: 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

5684-442: 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

5782-427: 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

5880-409: The name fell out of favor due to growing awareness of its lack of any connection to the river's Chinese names and to 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

5978-437: 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 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

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6076-409: 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 the Yangtze River. Traditionally, the upstream part of

6174-400: The overwhelming majority since 1990. They reflect a broad array of bridge designs and, in many cases, represent significant achievements in modern bridge engineering. Several rank among the world's longest suspension , cable-stayed , arch bridges , truss and box girder bridges as well as some of the highest and tallest bridges . Upriver from Yibin, bridge spans are more common along

6272-401: The pathway might have been intended to enable a person to access the city from the river. Another set of similar holes can be found near Wushan in the Little Three Gorges (小三峽) of the Daning River (大寧河). The local tourism agency in Wushan has placed poles in some of these holes so that tourists can see how they were used in ancient times. On the cliff face near Meng Liang's Staircase there

6370-512: 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

6468-426: The pontoons instead of chains. They added leather-covered walls to the bridges and added towers and firing positions. Pontoon bridges have not been a feasible long-term solution to cross river transport because they block boat traffic on the Yangtze, a major conduit for travelers and cargo between the coast and the Chinese interior. Dating back to 3rd century, militaries of antiquity have stretched iron chains across

6566-409: 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

6664-449: The river have been thought of as distinct rivers with different names. The bridges and tunnels of the Yangtze have compound names consisting of the location name and the river section name. Today, the river has four sectional names in (in Chinese)  : (1) Tuotuo, (2) Tongtian, (3) Jinsha and (4) Chang Jiang . For example, the Nanjing Chang Jiang Bridge is translated as the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge. The Taku Jinsha River Bridge

6762-422: The river through Sichuan and Chongqing Municipality is also known as the Chuān Jiāng ( 川江 ) or " Sichuan River ". In Hubei , the river 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

6860-437: The river was built in the 7th century by the Tibetan Empire over the Jinsha. The Shenchuan Iron Bridge, a simple suspension bridge, stood at what is today Tacun of Weixi Lisu Autonomous County in the Dêqên Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of northwestern Yunnan Province , and was probably built to help the Tibetan military advance against the Kingdom of Nanzhao during its invasions between 682 and 704. The Tibetans stationed

6958-407: 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,

7056-593: The river was the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge , built from 1955 to 1957. The dual-use road-rail bridge was a major infrastructural project in the early years of the People's Republic and was completed with Soviet assistance. The second bridge was a single-track railway bridge built in Chongqing in 1959. The Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge , also a road-rail bridge, was the first bridge to cross

7154-462: The river, but there is a pathway that allows direct access to the caves. These narrow footpaths were built starting in the Western Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD) and continued to be maintained and improved until the middle of the 20th century. The original purpose was to provide a footpath for human haulers to pull boats upstream. Thus they were always alongside cliffs next to the river. Since

7252-706: 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

7350-510: 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

7448-475: 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, the river's elevation drops from above 5,000 m (16,000 ft) to less than 1,000 m (3,300 ft). Thus, over

7546-500: The south side of the river (Baiyan Mountain) a series of rectangular holes is carven into the cliff face. The holes are almost exactly 1 metre apart and 1 metre deep. The holes zig-zag up part of the cliff face in a Z-shape. These holes are known as the Meng Liang Stairway (孟良梯). Legend has it that the holes were built by a Song dynasty soldier named Meng Liang (孟良). Meng Liang served for a general named Yang Jiye who

7644-408: 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

7742-548: 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

7840-691: 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

7938-656: The time. Bridge-building resumed in the 1990s and accelerated in the first decade of the 21st century due to the rapid growth of the Chinese economy . Jiangxi Province had its first bridge in 1993 with the opening of the Jiujiang Bridge . The first bridge in Anhui Province , the Tongling Bridge , opened in 1995. Six of the 11 bridges built in the 1990s and half of the 40 bridge crossings added in

8036-693: 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,

8134-669: 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 " 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

8232-420: 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

8330-445: 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

8428-733: 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 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

8526-413: 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 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

8624-479: 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

8722-509: 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

8820-402: Was buried at the top of the cliff. Meng Liang wanted to find the remains of General Yang and give him a proper burial back in his home town. During the night Meng Liang constructed the stairway. A monk at the top of the mountain saw him coming and crowed like a rooster. Meng Liang, thinking the morning had arrived, quickly abandoned his plan to avoid being caught. Holes such as these are used as

8918-501: 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 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

9016-568: 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,

9114-553: 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 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

9212-632: 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

9310-541: 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 the historical spiritual source of the Yangtze, the Geladandong source is still commonly referred to as

9408-439: Was originally designed to carry trucks weighing up to 30 t (33 short tons). In 2008, the tonnage limit was raised to 55 t (61 short tons). In November 2011, a crack was discovered in the bridge's steel structure and forced the authorities to close the bridge to freight traffic. In February 2012, the tonnage limit was lowered to 20 t (22 short tons). Truck traffic had to be re-routed to neighboring provinces. In 2012,

9506-874: 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

9604-488: 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, 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

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