Chang Jiang

Longest river of China and Asia, and third longest in the world, flowing about 6,300 km/3,900 mi from Qinghai on the Tibetan Plateau to the Yellow Sea. It is a major commercial waterway and, with its tributaries, is navigable for 30,000 km/18,640 mi; Yichang is considered the head of navigation, but ocean-going vessels can reach inland as far as Wuhan. The whole drainage basin covers a vast area of over 1,827,000 sq km/705,400 sq mi, and produces about 70% of China's rice crop. Work began on the Three Gorges Dam on the river in December 1994, with the purposes of controlling flooding and generating about 10% of the country's electricity supply.

The Chang Jiang has 204 km/127 mi of gorges, below which lies the Gezhouba Dam, just upstream of Yichang in Hubei province. The Gezhouba was the first hydroelectric dam on the river, and is China's largest completed facility; its output will be overtaken by the Three Gorges project (scheduled for completion 2003), which will be the world's largest dam and hydroelectric scheme.

In the summer of 1998 the Chang Jiang flooded killing 3,000 people and destroying 5 million homes.