Yangtze River (Chang Jiang)

As well as being the longest river in Asia, the Yangtze is of great religious and historical significance to the region. Archaeologists have discovered the remains of human habitation in the Three Gorges area that goes back seven thousand years.

Due to the river's width and the difficulty of crossing it in places it was the scene of many great battles in China’s history, and at many times acted as a border between the divided nations of North and South China.

Some of the Yangtze’s most famous inhabitants, the Finless Porpoise or ‘river pigs’ are now threatened with extinction due to increasing pollution and traffic on the river, and the baiji, or ‘river dolphin’ was declared extinct in 2006. However this increased ship traffic is supporting the region economically.

The most scenic area of the river is the Three Gorges region, covering 120kms of towering cliffs and narrow river passages. Construction of The Three Gorges Dam in 2006 has caused water levels in the gorges to rise giving the impression that the cliffs are lower and less steep and the river is much wider, however scenic cruises along this section of the route are still extremely popular.

The source of the Yangtze is in the Qinghai Province and its mouth is in the East China Sea near Shanghai.