Along the Yangtze River
Photo: User:Vmenkov, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
The Yangtze River (Chinese: 长江 Cháng Jiāng, literally "long river") is China's greatest river and a historic transport route.
This is a huge river; it is over 6,000 km (nearly 4000 miles) long, about the same as the Mississippi. Only the Amazon and Nile are longer. It is the world's fifth largest river by volume of water discharged, at over 30,000 m³ a second, roughly double the Mississippi, Mekong or Saint Lawrence, four times the Danube, and more than ten times the Rhine or Nile.
UnderstandThe Yangtze has been an important transportation route with major cities along its banks for several thousand years.
CitiesMany of China's greatest cities lie along the Yangtze.
Get inShanghai has a major international airport with connections to almost anywhere.
GoThe most famous part of this route is the sensational cruise ships through the Three Gorges area between Chongqing and Yichang.
Stay safeGeneral precautions against common scams and pickpockets are advisable anywhere in China.
Go nextChengdu is a hub for visiting southwest China. From there, you can:
Sources and licences
- Guide text adapted from the Wikivoyage article "Along the Yangtze River" by its contributors, available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikivoyage · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Photo: User:Vmenkov, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons