River
Qiantang River
459 km from source to mouth · China.
ChinaFlows into Hangzhou Bay
In numbers
Length
459km
Average flow
1,400m³/s
Basin
55,600km²
Drop
291m
from 291 m to 0 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
459 km of river and 13 stops on the way: 3 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 291 m
- 88 kmHuangshan460,786 people
- 234 kmQiandao Lake425 km²
- 303 kmFuchunjiang Shuiku45 km²
- 353 kmFuyang70,183 people
- 385 kmQianjiang 7th bridge
- 389 kmQiantang River Bridge
- 393 kmFuxing Bridge
- 397 kmHangzhou11,936,010 people
- 398 kmXixing Bridge
- 403 kmNew Qiantang River Railway Bridge
- 403 kmPengbu Bridge
- 407 kmJiubao Bridge
- 424 kmJiangdong Bridge
- 459 kmHangzhou Bayat 0 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in western Zhejiang, China
At the mouth it carries 1,391 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 1.8 seconds. It drops from 291 m to 0 m, 0.6 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 55,600 km², about the size of HR. 15.6 million people live in it. Highest water: June; lowest: from December to January. It is heavily dammed: reservoirs can hold 60% of a year's flow.
Where to start
- HangzhouLargest city on its banks · 11,936,010 people
- Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport (HGH)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 25 km from the city
- On the water19 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From October to NovemberThe best months to visit
Qiantang River, month by month
Highest water: June
Lowest water: from December to January. Best months to visit: from October to November.
From about 540 m³/s in the lowest month to 3,100 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
Qiantang River: the basin in numbers
43,614 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 15.6millionpeople live in the basin
- 368/km²people per km²
- 325maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,592mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 16.0°Caverage air temperature
- 3%protected areas
- 1.5%covered by lakes
- 26km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 69% Forest
- 19% Cropland
- 18% 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
Qiantang River: what you find on the way
- 1Weirs
- 14Locks
- 2Waterfalls
- 18Ferry piers
- 1Marinas
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.2 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Qiantang 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.
2lakes on its wayLakeyas
Lakes and reservoirs (2)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Qiandao Lakekm 231425km²
- Fuchunjiang Shuikukm 30045km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
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.
Photos
Qiantang River in pictures
Where these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q19751) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth 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 | Lakeyas — 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.
beaches
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit 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