长江流域简介(英文)

Yangtze River Basin in Brief

The Yangtze River, traversing the West, Middle and East China, is the largest river in the country

and the third largest in the world. It occupies the most important strategic position for allocation of

water resources to support eco-social sustainable development in China.

1. Natural Status

The mainstrean of the Yangtze River originated from the southwestern side of the snow-Capped

Mountain of the Geladandong

—

the main peak of Tanggula Mountains on the Qinghai and Tibet

Plate

au,

passing

through

China’s

11

provinces

(or

autonomous

regions

or

the

municipalities

directly under the Central Government), including Qinghai, Tibet, Yunnan, Sichuan, Chongqing,

Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui and Jiangsu, and finally enters into the East China Sea in Shanghai,

with a total length of more than 6300 km and total fall head of more than 5400 m. Its tributaries

extended

8

provinces

and

autonomous

regions

including

Gansu,

Sanxi,

Henan,

Guizhou,

Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian and Zhejiang. The Yangtze basin involves a catchment area of 1.8

million km

2

, accounting for 18.75% of China’s total.

The Yangtze River has its source stream from the Tuotuo River, after converging with the south

source Dangqu River it is called Tongtian River, and then it is named Jinsha River after merging

with the north source Chumar River and joined by Batang River at Yushu, and finally it is named

the Yangtze River after joined by Minjiang River at Yibin in Sichuang Province. For the Yangtze

River,

the

reach

between

Yibin

and

Yichang

is

called

Chuanjiang

River;

the

reach

between

Zhicheng and Chenglingji is called Jingjiang River.

With a large water system and numerous tributaries and lakes, the Yangtze River Basin possesses

8

main

tributaries

with

a

catchment

area

of

more

than

80000

km

2

,

including

Yalong

River,

Minjiang River, Jialing River, Wujiang River, Y

uanjiang River, Xiangjiang River, Hanjiang River

and Ganjiang River, among them Jialing River is the biggest in terms of area, Minjiang River is

the largest in terms of discharge, and Hanjiang River is the longest (Table 1). In addition, there are

4 large fresh water lakes, namely Dongting Lake, Poyang Lake, Chaohu Lake and Taihu Lake in

the Yangtze basin, of which Poyang Lake is the biggest in China (Table 2).

Table 1

The main tributaries of the Yangtze River

Mean Annual

Catchment Area

Length

Name of

Discharge

4

2

Tributary

（

10

km

）

（

km

）

< /p>

（

m

3

/s

）

Yalong River

Minjiang River

Jialing River

Wujiang River

Xiangjiang River

12.8

13.3

16.0

8.8

9.34

1914

2850

2120

1690

2070

1535

735

1120

1037

856

1

Yuanjiang River

Hanjiang River

Ganjiang River

8.8

15.9

8.35

2070

1640

2130

1033

1577

819

Table 2

Main Lakes in the Yangtze Basin

Name of Lake

Province

Poyang Lake

Dongting

Lake

Taihu Lake

Chaohu Lake

Jiangxi

Hunan

Jiangsu

Anhui

Elevation

(Wusong Datum/m

）

22

33.5

3.1

10

Area

（

< br>km

2

）

3750

2625

2338

770

Volume

（

billion m

3

）

29.57

16.7

4.43

2.07

Average

Depth

（

m

）

7.41

6.37

2.08

6.17

The section upstream of Yichang is known as the upper reaches with a length of 4500 km and a

catchment area of 1,000,000 km

2

. From Yichang to Hukou, the river enters into the middle reach

with

a

length

of

950

km

and

a

catchment

area

of

680,000

km

2

.

The

section

downstream

from

Hukou to the estuary is the lower reach with a length of 930 km and a catchment area of 120,000

km

2

. The upper Yangtze runs through Alps-Ravines with steep slope and rapid flow except in a

small section of the source area, the total water head reaches 5100 m, accounting for 95% of the

total

of

the

River.

The

reach

from

the

mouth

of

Batang

River

to

Yibin

is

2300m

long

with

an

average

slope

of

1.37‰;

the

Tiger-leaping

Gorge

in

downstream

of

Shigu

of

Jinsha

River

is

a

world famous peculiar gorge, with a length of 17 km, a water head of 170 m, a gorge depth of

2500~3000

m,

and

a

river

width

of

only

30

m

in

the

narrowest

part.

The

reach

from

Yibin

to

Chongqing is 370 km long with an

average slope of 0.27‰; the

reach between Chongqing and

Yichang is 660 km long with an

average slope of 0.18‰,

of which the 192 km reach from Fengjie

to

Yichang

is

the

famous

Gorges

(Qutang

Gorge,

Wuxia

Gorge

and

Xiling

Gorge).

Downstream

from

Yichang,

the

river

flows

into

the

middle-lower

alluvial

plain

with

flat

topography on both banks, and with an average slope of

0.03‰

between Yichang and Hukou and

0.007‰

for

the

reach

from

Hukou

to

the

estuary,

of

which

the

part

of

about

600

km

long

downstream from Datong in Anhui province belongs to tide influenced reach.

For the terrain of the Yangtze River basin

, it is high in west and low in east through China’s three

major topographic cascades. The first cascade is composed of the Southern Qinghai Plateau, the

Western

Sichuan

Plateau

and

the

Hengduan

mountainous

region,

with

an

average

elevation

of

3500~5000

m.

The

second

cascade

is

composed

of

Qinba

mountainous

region,

Sichuan

Basin,

Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and the mountainous regions of Hubei and Guizhou provinces, with an

average elevation of 500~2000m. The third cascade is composed of Huaiyang mountainous region,

the hills in the southern area and the Middle-Lower Yangtze Plain, with an average elevation of

less

than

500m.

The

terrain

of

the

Yangtze

River

Basin

is

complicated,

consisting

of

84.7%

of

mountain and hilly land, 11.3% of plain region, and 4% of water surface.

2

Most

of

the

Yangtze

River

Basin

is

situated

in

the

middle- latitude

subtropical

region

with

monsoon climate and abundant rainfall. The mean annual precipitation is about 1100 mm, the total

volume of water resources is 996 billion

m

3

accounting for 35.1% of the total in China.. The basin

has

a

theoretical

hydropower

potential

of 277810MW

(2433.6

TWh/year),

accounting

for

about

40% of nation’s total

; a technically feasible potential of 256270 MW (1187.9 TWh/year), and an

economically feasible potential of 228320 MW (1049.8 TWh/year), accounting for 48% and 60%

of

the

nation’s

total

respectively.

90%

of

the

hydro

-energy

resources

in

the

Yangtze

Basin

are

concentrated in the upper basin and will mainly be exploited by building large-scale hydropower

stations (73% of the total), including 52 large hydropower stations with an installed capacity of

more than 1000 MW each, and the largest one ---the Three Gorges Hydropower Station reaches

22400

MW

(90

TWh/year).

There

are

3600

navigable

channels

in

the

Yangtze

basin,

mainly

distributed

in

the

middle

and

lower

basin

with

the

inland

waterway

mileage

of

66386

km,

accounting

for

4

9.1%

of

nation’s

total.

After

completion

of

the

Three

Gorges

Project

(TGP),

10000-ton towboats will be able to pass through right up to Chongqing port

The Yangtze basin is rich in aquatic biodiversity, according to investigation, there are more than

370 fish species, of which one third are endemic species, the output of the main commercial fish

–

―Four family fishes‖

(Chinese carps

) account for 60% of the nation’s total.

The Yangtze is also the

home of some rare species, of which Chinese river dolphin ( Baiji ) ,Chinese paddlefish, Chinese

sturgeon and Yangtze sturgeon are in Class I , while Chinese finless porpoise and Chinese sucker

are in Class II on the list of the nation protected species. . In recent years, as a result of increasing

human

activity,

some

species

are

in

danger

of

extinction

，

the

biodiversity

has

been

showing

a

declining trend in the basin.

The mean annual content of suspended sediment in the Yangtze water is less than 1kg/m

3

, however,

due to the huge runoff, annually more than 486 Mt of sediments are discharged into the sea. In

recent

years,

due

to

the

effect

of

reservoir

formation

and

soil

&

water

conservation

measures

implemented

the

SS

content

in

the

Yangtze

water

and

sediment

discharge

have

been

reduced

significantly (see Table 3).

Table 3

Sediment in the Yangtze River

Catchment

Sediment content

(kg/m

3

)

Annual

average

Hydrological

area

sediment discharge (Mt)

2

Station

（

km

）

1956~1979

1980~2000

1956~1979

1980~2000

Yichang

Hankou

Datong

1005501

1488036

1705383

1.17

0.62

0.55

1.10

0.52

0.48

514

426

470.17

486

375

430.42

2

Natural Disasters and Ecology and Environment

The Yangtze

Basin

is

one

of

the

most

serious

regions

suffering

flood

disasters

in China,

where

rainfalls are concentrated and floods and water-loggings often occur in flood season, especially in

the

Middle

and

Lower

Yangtze

Plain.

According

to

historical

records,

in

last

2000

years

from

Western Han Dynasty to the late Qing Dynasty

（

206 B.C. to 1911 A.C.

）

, there were 214 flood

3