Yangtze River - The Longest River in China

What Makes the Yangtze So Special?

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The Yangtze River has a good case for being the most interesting and popular river in the world. It has the widest variety of outstanding tourist attractions, scenery and culture along its length, all contained within China, and holds several world records.

Yangtze River World Records

The Yangtze is the third longest river in the World, but the longest river within a single country. It has the highest source of any of the world’s major rivers at over 5,000 m (16,000 ft) above sea level, on the border of Qinghai Province and Nagqu Prefecture, Tibet. (The Yalung Zangpo, beginning in Ngari Prefecture, Tibet, and emptying into the Brahmaputra from Nyingchi Prefecture, is a close rival. However, “the Everest of Rivers” is less accessible than the source of the Yangtze, which has the world’s highest railway, the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, passing through only 100 km (60 miles) from the source.)

The Yangtze’s Gorges

The Yangtze’s gorges are highlights on the river’s course. Tiger Leaping Gorge, on the Upper Yangtze, is the deepest gorge in the world, with mountains towering 4,000 m (13,000 ft) above it and steep 2,000 m (6,600 ft) cliffs at its sides. The Three Gorges on the Yangtze’s middle reaches are awesomely beautiful, with relaxing cruises and pretty side gorges to be explored. The largest dam and hydroelectric power plant in the world is the Three Gorges Dam.

Scenery and Culture

The Yangtze River is rich in scenery and culture. The arid roof of the world (the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau) with its Tibetan culture is the Yangtze’s source. Verdant mountains and steep gorges form the minority territories of the Lisu and Naxi in the upper reaches. Sichuan, Chongqing and Hubei in the middle reaches have a relaxed pace of life and spicy food. The Three Gorges can be found there.

In the lower reaches there is a mixture of history and modernity, with the charming ancient water towns (Zhouzhuang, Wuzhen, Xitang and Tongli), imperial gardens of Hangzhou and Suzhou and ancient capital of Nanjing in contrast to the skyscrapers and thriving commerce of Shanghai. China’s “strangest” and “most scenic” mountain, Huangshan, is a short distance from the Yangtze in Anhui Province. See Yangtze attractions list.