Famous Rivers in China
1 min readChina has over 1，500 rivers.Most of the major rivers like the Yangtze（or Chang Jiang）have their source on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and drop from the source to the mouths with abundant water supply.As a result，China is rich in waterpower resources，leading the world in hydropower potential，with reserves of 680 million km，a remarkable figure.
China’s rivers can be categorized as exterior and interior systems.The catchment area for the exterior rivers that empty into the oceans accounts for 64 percent of the country’s total land area.The Chang Jiang，Huang He，Heilong Jiang，Zhu Jiang，Liao He，Hai He and Huai He flow east，and empty into the Pacific Ocean.
The Yarlungzangbo River in Tibet，which flows first east and then south into the Indian Ocean，and the Yarlungzangbo Grand Canyon boasts to be the largest canyon in the world.It is 504.6 km long and 6，009 m deep.The Ertix River flows north from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to the Arctic Ocean.The catchment area for the interior rivers that flow into inland lakes or disappear into deserts or salt marshes makes up about 36 percent of China’s total land area.Its 2，179 km makes the Tarim River in southern Xinjiang China’s longest interior river.
