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River

Yangtze River

6,300 km from source to mouth · China.

ChinaChinaFlows into East China Sea1st longest in China

Follow the riverMonth by month

SourceMouthChongqingWuhan
The river and every tributary in its basin, drawn from RiverATLAS (CC BY 4.0).

In numbers

Length

6,300km

Average flow

31,900m³/s

Basin

1,808,500km²

Drop

4,883m

from 4,881 m to -2 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

6,300 km of river and 68 stops on the way: 44 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

4,881 m-2 m
Yangtze River sourceat 4,881 m0 km
Sewu Qutributary604 km
Baishui Rivertributary2,043 km
Panzhihua787,177 people2,348 km
Yibin4,887,242 people3,102 km
Luzhou4,254,149 people3,229 km
Yichang4,017,607 people4,126 km
Wuhan12,326,518 people4,740 km
Wuhu3,644,420 people5,345 km
East China Seaat -2 m6,300 km
02,0004,0006,300 km
  1. 0 kmYangtze River sourceat 4,881 m
  2. 604 kmSewu Qutributary
  3. 770 kmDe Qutributary
  4. 2,043 kmBaishui Rivertributary
  5. 2,348 kmPanzhihua787,177 people
  6. 2,359 kmYalong Rivertributary
  7. 2,641 kmXiao Jiangtributary
  8. 2,678 kmYili Hetributary
  9. 3,073 kmShuifu102,143 people
  10. 3,102 kmYibin4,887,242 people
  11. 3,103 kmJinsha Rivertributary
  12. 3,103 kmMin Rivertributary
  13. 3,229 kmLuzhou4,254,149 people
  14. 3,231 kmTuo Rivertributary
  15. 3,298 kmHejiang137,437 people
  16. 3,299 kmChishui Rivertributary
  17. 3,365 kmBaisha115,761 people
  18. 3,404 kmJijiang196,787 people
  19. 3,444 kmBanan508,703 people
  20. 3,469 kmChongqing Shi12,135,000 people
  21. 3,469 kmChongqing22,000,000 people
  22. 3,475 kmJialing Rivertributary
  23. 3,541 kmYanjia100,000 people
  24. 3,546 kmFengcheng175,576 people
  25. 3,592 kmFuling268,658 people
  26. 3,592 kmLizhi156,753 people
  27. 3,593 kmWu Rivertributary
  28. 3,644 kmSanhe140,954 people
  29. 3,788 kmWanzhou1,545,900 people
  30. 3,792 kmPailou104,351 people
  31. 3,794 kmWanxian859,662 people
  32. 3,794 kmTaibai108,387 people
  33. 3,913 kmYong’an144,314 people
  34. 3,959 kmWushan117,873 people
  35. 4,085 kmThree Gorges Dam
  36. 4,086 kmThree Gorges Reservoir Region853 km²
  37. 4,126 kmYichang4,017,607 people
  38. 4,186 kmZhicheng159,383 people
  39. 4,218 kmZhijiang408,487 people
  40. 4,275 kmBuhe106,347 people
  41. 4,276 kmJingzhou5,570,100 people
  42. 4,361 kmXiulin240,082 people
  43. 4,503 kmXiang Rivertributary
  44. 4,503 kmBajiao Hu9.8 km²
  45. 4,510 kmSongchang Hu4.8 km²
  46. 4,556 kmXindi175,761 people
  47. 4,724 kmSouth Taizi Lake2.8 km²
  48. 4,731 kmMoshui Lake3.4 km²
  49. 4,735 kmWuchang1,102,188 people
  50. 4,740 kmWuhan12,326,518 people
  51. 4,825 kmHuangzhou122,563 people
  52. 4,830 kmHuanggang6,333,000 people
  53. 4,833 kmEzhou1,079,353 people
  54. 4,833 kmE’zhou668,727 people
  55. 4,868 kmHuangshi2,471,700 people
  56. 4,870 kmCi Hu8.9 km²
  57. 4,879 kmCe Hu8.7 km²
  58. 4,942 kmWuxue220,661 people
  59. 4,992 kmJiujiang1,164,268 people
  60. 4,994 kmBaishui Hu1.4 km²
  61. 5,015 kmPoyang Lake2,398 km²
  62. 5,052 kmPengze350,000 people
  63. 5,078 kmTaipo Lake23 km²
  64. 5,144 kmAnqing4,165,284 people
  65. 5,244 kmTongling1,311,726 people
  66. 5,345 kmWuhu3,644,420 people
  67. 5,497 kmZhenzhou176,006 people
  68. 5,525 kmZhenjiang950,516 people
  69. 5,637 kmJiangyin1,779,515 people
  70. 6,300 kmEast China Seaat -2 m

Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.

Longest river in Asia, and the third-longest in the world

At the mouth it carries 31,900 m³/s on average: 13 Olympic pools every second. It drops from 4,881 m to -2 m, 0.8 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 1,808,500 km², about the size of LY. 481 million people live in it. Highest water: from July to September; lowest: from January to April. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (20% of a year's flow).

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • ChongqingLargest city on its banks · 22,000,000 people
  • Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport (CKG)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 19 km from the city
  • On the water287 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • From April to May and from August to OctoberThe best months to visit

Yangtze River, month by month

Highest water: from July to September

Lowest water: from January to April. Best months to visit: from April to May and from August to October.

15,500
1°16 mmJan
12,900
3°24 mmFeb
14,300
8°40 mmMar
18,400
12°62 mmApr
25,000
16°94 mmMay
36,800
19°147 mmJun
46,800
21°153 mmJul
51,100
21°127 mmAug
50,400
18°101 mmSep
42,100
13°64 mmOct
31,200
7°29 mmNov
22,100
3°15 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 12,900 m³/s in the lowest month to 51,100 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

Car hire in ChinaDiscover CarsSee 

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

The basin

Yangtze River: the basin in numbers

1,909,199 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Heavily regulatedReservoirs can hold 20% of a year's flow: dams shape its seasons.
  • 481millionpeople live in the basin
  • 258/km²people per km²
  • 1,498maverage altitude of the basin
  • 1,032mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 11.8°Caverage air temperature
  • 17%protected areas
  • 1.1%covered by lakes
  • 6%permafrost
  • 192km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 36% Forest
  • 24% Cropland
  • 28% Pasture
  • 7% 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

Yangtze River: what you find on the way

  • 151DamsYebatan Hydro Power Station, Coffer Dam, Lawa Dam and 148 more
  • 48Weirsplunge pool weir and 47 more
  • 42LocksChang Jiang, Gezhouba No. 1 Ship Lock, Yangtze River and 39 more
  • 12WaterfallsWaterfall (small) and 11 more
  • 22Boat ramps
  • 235Ferry piersHuaneng Harbor, Maoping Port, Cruiseship Terminal and 232 more
  • 30MarinasShigu Pier and 29 more
  • 1River beaches

From OpenStreetMap, within 3.2 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Yangtze 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.

  • 10lakes on its wayLakeyas

Lakes and reservoirs (10)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Three Gorges Reservoir Regionkm 3,819 · 113 m deep853km²
  2. Bajiao Hukm 4,2109.8km²
  3. Moshui Lakekm 4,4223.4km²
  4. Ci Hukm 4,5528.9km²
  5. Ce Hukm 4,5608.7km²
  6. Baishui Hukm 4,6681.4km²
  7. Poyang Lakekm 4,688 · 25 m deep2,398km²
  8. Taipo Lakekm 4,74623km²

2 more on LakeyasLakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Yangtze River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Yangtze River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth188 km across

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

Yangtze River in pictures

A vehicle carrier on yangtze
Photnart · CC BY-SA 4.0
A container carrier on yangtze
Photnart · CC BY-SA 4.0
Jinshajiang River Ravine - 32229429768
Rod Waddington · CC BY-SA 2.0
20240621 Looking south from Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge 01
Windmemories · CC BY-SA 4.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

Tributaries (34)

Jinsha RiverChinaChina3,005 km4,500 m³/sjoins at km 2,901Han RiverChinaChina1,532 km2,200 m³/sjoins at km 4,432Yalong RiverChinaChina1,323 km2,000 m³/sjoins at km 2,205Wu RiverChinaChina1,150 km1,800 m³/sjoins at km 3,359Jialing RiverChinaChina1,119 km2,100 m³/sjoins at km 3,249Huai RiverChinaChina1,110 km1,200 m³/sYuan RiverChinaChina993 km2,000 m³/sXiang RiverChinaChina801 km6,400 m³/sjoins at km 4,209Gan RiverChinaChina758 km1,700 m³/sjoins at km 4,690Min RiverChinaChina711 km2,300 m³/sjoins at km 2,901Tuo RiverChinaChina655 km460 m³/sjoins at km 3,020Huangpu RiverChinaChina97 km370 m³/s

Also: Qinhuai River, Zi River, Chishui River, Qingyi River, Shuiyang River, Gong Jiang, Xiao Jiang, Fushui River, Yili He, She Shui, Ren He, De Qu, Niulan (rivière), Sewu Qu, Baishui River, Heng River, Ouqu, Muma River, Meigu River, Xixi River, Zengqu River, Songmai River

In the same basin

Dadu RiverChinaChina642 km1,400 m³/s

Nearby

Rivers nearby

Huangpu RiverChinaChina97 km370 m³/s137 km awayQiantang RiverChinaChina459 km1,400 m³/s176 km awayHuai RiverChinaChina1,110 km1,200 m³/s203 km awayGan RiverChinaChina758 km1,700 m³/s452 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q5413) · CC0
Course, profile, basinRiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata
FlowWaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Climate along the riverWorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Towns, bridges, damsWikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0
Along the river© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Our other atlasesLakeyas — 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.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit
lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit
mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit
waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit
islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit
riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit