The river runs free
high in the mountains of Tibet
Almost a century ago, Isabella Bird wrote on her expedition to the Yangtze:
The Great River asserts its right to be regarded as the most important of Asiatic waterways by furnishing, by its main stream and the tributaries which thereafter enter it, routes easy of navigation through the rich and crowded centre of China...(1900:4
)
It has not changed in status. The river has only, perhaps, changed its' face. To even begin to think about the river, however, one must understand it's geography. So, as Bird does in her book The Yangtze and Beyond, and historians of the river have done since then, I will attempt to introduce you to the geography and course of the mighty river.
The Yangtze, or Chang jiang (Long River), as the Chinese call it, is indeed long--over 6400 km (3900 miles). Only the Nile and Amazon are longer, and only the Amazon carries more water (Bonavia 1998). Its' basin spans a great swath across central C hina, at more than 700,000 square miles.
Like the Yellow river, the Yangtze flows from west to east across China, originating in the 6500 m high (21,000 feet) Tanggula Mountains of the Tibetan plateau, in Qinghai province. Here it remains a mysterious river, through deep gorges and remote
terrain, past the border towns of Batang and Dege. The source of the Yangtze was only determined in the 70's. This region, inhabited only sparsely by Tibetan herdsman, is the genesis of not only the Yangtze, but also the Mekong, Salween, Yellow, and
Yalong (which joins the Yangtze later) rivers, paramount rivers in Asia. Here, the Yangtze takes the name Jinshajiang, meaning 'River of Golden Sands'. At one point, the Mekong, Salween, and Jinsha flow south within 100 miles of each other, skirting th
e Sichuan-Tibet border (Van Slyke 1988). The Jinsha too, might have continued south, but for an exceptional hairpin turn at the city of Shigu, in Yunnan province.
Several attempts have been made, both Chinese and foreign, to raft this river. None were especially successful; the first, by maverick photographer Yao Maoshu, ended in his prompt death. Others include an exp edition by Ken Warren of Oregon , whose expedition ended dangerously when the rafters were stuck in a gorge near Batang, Sichuan, when Warren had to hike out for help (?). The Yangtze has claimed countless other members of Chinese expeditions; in this re spect, it is still very much a wild river.
Soon after it takes its' first bend at Shigu in Yunnan, the river churns through Tiger Leaping Gorge, one of the deepest gorges in the world at some 3900 meters from rim to river. (Lonely Planet 1996:760). It then calms down significantly, passing t
hrough steep and barely inhabitable valleys, through the town of Panzihua, gathering countless mountains streams. The river then crosses over into Sichuan province, and soon is at the city of Yibin, where it is joined by the Min river, once thought to th
e be source stream of the Yangtze. From this point, the river becomes Changjiang, and has settled down enough to be navigable to ships.
The river continues through the soft, green hills of Sichuan, widening out considerably, past the town of Luzhou. It passes the major town and rising commercial center of Chongqing, joined by the Jialing river. The rolling hills of the area create
a valley for the river pass through with terraced green fields teeming around the banks. At some points, the river narrows to a few hundred meters across, with swift current and large eddies in high water. The hills often allow for small pools and pro
tected areas from the current of the river, particularly where small tributaries join; these are where hamlets and villages lie.
The river continues on past Fuling and Fengdu. At Wanxian, a large town, the mountains rise slightly higher, and the surrounding terrain becomes steeper, although still inhabited by many farmers. The river continues on to the town of Yunyang, and
on to Fengjie, at the gate to the Three Gorges area. The small Daning, Xiangxi, and Mioanan rivers join the Yangtze in this region, separating the Gorges. The river first passes through sheer Qutang, and then Wuxia and Xiling gorges, with less intens
e areas in between. At one point in Qutang Gorge, the river is only 100m (330 feet) wide, and water depth can change as much as 50 m (165 feet) (WREPP 1984:29). The Three Gorges Dam is being constructed at Sandouping, some 40 km (25 miles) upriver from
Yichang, in Xiling Gorge (WREPP 1984:233).
After Nanjin pass, the river is arrested by recently completed Gezhouba dam, near the rapidly growing city of Yichang. The river assumes an entirely different character here; it becomes a slower, wider ri ver--easily navigable by all kinds of boats, from sailing junks to 10,000 ton ships. It continues east into a large flood plain, stretching from Hubei province through Anhui, Hunan, Jiangxi, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces.
Indeed, this is China's heartland. Nearly a quarter of China's arable land is located in this fertile basin, producing one third of China's food (Sly 1996). The area between the Gorges and the city of Shashi used to be a large marsh, but due to re cent development, it has been converted to farmland. Close to Shashi is the ancient city of Jingzhou, traditionally the first important city of the lower river. The river continues past the Hunan port of Yueyang, the gateway to the 3900 sq km (2400 sq mile) Dongting lake of Hunan province, fed by the Yuan, Xiang, and Fuyi Rivers (Van Slyke 1988 21-22).
The river is nearly a mile wide at the major industrial city of Wuhan, where it is joined by the flood prone Han River. Wuhan, with 8 million people, ranks among the most important cities of central China. The river touches Jiangxi province, and th
e city of Juijiang, where a large dike burst this summer. Another major lake, Boyang lake, is here. The river then cuts through Anhui provinces, one of the poorest areas of China, past the ports of Wuhu and Anqing, before reaching the major city of Nanj
ing. This city, whose name means Southern Capital, has been a major city for many centuries, including the capital of the Goumindang in the early part of the century.
The river, wide and flat now, is affected by the tides of the ocean as it resumes its' journey to the sea. Nearby, in the complex network of waterways and canals crossing the eastern seaboard are the ancient cities of Yangzhou, Hangzhou and Suzhou, a s well as the historically significant Grand Canal. Soon, the Yangtze empties to the sea, with the huge city of Shanghai located on a nearby tributary, the Huangpu (Bonavia 1998).
The story of a river must include its' entire basin; and the Yangtze is no different. Like capillaries, both human and natural canals fan out across the surrounding countryside, irrigating a sea of farms both on the lower Yangtze and upon the Chengdu plain. In the Sichuan region, a host of major rivers converge to form the Changjiang: Min, Dadu, Jialing, Yalong, and Jinsha. Each is substational; but while the former three meander across the fertile Chengdu plain, the latter two plunge through preci pitous valleys below the peaks of high mountains, descending ferociously from the Tibetan Plateau to Sichuan, and consequently, they support less people.
Because of the wide drainage area, the Yangtze is far more reliable than the Yellow and carries ten times the water with one fifteenth the silt. Still, it carries a lot of silt, some 514 million tons, and retains the annual propensity to flood (WREPP 1984:80). Flooding has been a major problem in China; indeed, in some 2, 117 years of dynastic history, there have been 1, 621 recorded floods (Huang 1997:25).
It is hard for those not affected by a flood to understand their grip on a nation. Several large cities, namely Wuhan and Shashi, are protected by substantial dikes, as well as much of the farmland in the area on the left bank. A small breach might allow the river to fill an entire plain, displacing millions, ruining crops for an entire season, and spreading disease (Van Slyke 1998:21-22). The largest recorded water volume at Yichang was 110,000 cubic meters per second during the 1870 flood. (WRE PP 1984:80) Untold thousands, perhaps millions died in that flood. In 1931, some 150,000 perished, and in 1954 ,30,000 people were lost. (Van Slyke 1988:183) During this year's flood, somewhat larger and more sustained than the 1954 flood season, the government is claiming only 2,000 people have lost their lives, but millions have lost homes. Over 2.3 million people were involved in the 'battle' against the river, including the army. A flood not only takes life: it paralyzes the center of the coun try, inundates vital farmland, and consumes national resources to fight it.
This sort of thing, albeit rarely on such a scale, is a yearly event in China, largely as a result of the monsoon seasonal cycle. During the summer, the hot, humid air masses from the South China Sea drift over China, resulting in torrential rains. These rains pelt the countryside of China, often resulting in flash floods, and landslides: the Long River is the ultimate drainage ditch. Often, heavy rains in Sichuan (whose hills knock down a substantial portion of the moisture) directly result in flood surges downstream (Van Slyke 1988:11).
The variation in the river's water level is also significant, posing threats to navigation in the winter, when the river lowers to reveal shoals and rapids. A muddy no man's land forms between the low water mark and the high dike; often seasonal popu lation takes up residence here. Travel along the river during winter is cold, dangerous, and boring; all one can see are the soggy remains of the riverbed (Bird 1901:85-86).
Though the Yangtze is impressive because of its' natural features, its' beauty pales in comparison to the sheer volume of people that live on its' banks. For most of history, they have depended on the river for much. In the next section, a brief i ntroduction to their experience with the river is given.