River
Li River
164 km from source to mouth · China.
ChinaFlows into Gui River
In numbers
Length
164km
Average flow
410m³/s
Basin
19,025km²
Drop
111m
from 201 m to 90 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
164 km of river and 3 stops on the way: 2 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 201 m
- 55 kmGuilin1,572,300 people
- 131 kmYangshuo300,000 people
- 132 kmYulong Rivertributary
- 164 kmGui Riverat 90 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in the People's Republic of China
At the mouth it carries 410 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 6.1 seconds. It drops from 201 m to 90 m, 0.7 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 19,025 km², about the size of FJ. 2.9 million people live in it. Highest water: from June to July; lowest: from November to February. Its dams hold back little of its water (4.3% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- GuilinLargest city on its banks · 1,572,300 people
- Guilin Liangjiang International Airport (KWL)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 27 km from the city
- On the water46 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From October to NovemberThe best months to visit
Li River, month by month
Highest water: from June to July
Lowest water: from November to February. Best months to visit: from October to November.
From about 130 m³/s in the lowest month to 950 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.
Plan the trip
Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car
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The basin
Li River: the basin in numbers
12,085 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 2.9millionpeople live in the basin
- 240/km²people per km²
- 425maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,657mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 18.3°Caverage air temperature
- 22%protected areas
- 0.3%covered by lakes
- 0.6km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 52% Forest
- 15% Cropland
- 13% Pasture
- 9% Towns and cities
RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.
Along the river
Li River: what you find on the way
- 8Weirs
- 1Locks
- 5WaterfallsJinshawan Waterfall, Cow Pee Waterfall and 3 more
- 32Ferry piersJiefang Bridge Pier, Elephant Hill Fisherman, Riyue Bay and 29 more
- 14MarinasZhujiang pier and 13 more
- 1River beachesDouble Beach
From OpenStreetMap, within 1.8 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Li River in our other atlases
What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.
1mountain at the sourcePeakyas
Mountains at the source (1)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Daojiang Ling5.8 km away
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (1)
Also: Yulong River
In the same basin
Where these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q334225) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed along the river network from the point given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Our other atlases | Peakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST |
Every source and licence is on the data sources page.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
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lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit