Prelims ask
Longest in Asia. East. East China Sea. Three Gorges. Shanghai delta.
Asia
Yangtze
Longest river in Asia and in China. Usual textbook third in the world.
- Source
- Tanggula Mountains, Qinghai–Tibet. Geladandong glaciers. Not the Himalayan crest.
- Countries
- China.
- Direction
- East.
- Mouth
- East China Sea.
- Length
- About 6,300 km.
- Major tributaries
- Min, Jialing, Han, Wu, Yuan, Xiang.
- Delta or estuary
- Delta at Shanghai.
- Basin
- Three Gorges Dam. China’s main economic and population axis.
- One exam fact
- In the Jinsha section it is one of the Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan, beside the Mekong and the Salween.
Mains use
A plateau-born, east-flowing axial river. Pair with the Yellow on sediment and with the Mekong on international status — the Yangtze is not international.