China's greatest connection! How many secrets does the Yangtze River hide?

On Earth

There has never been such a river

With super huge amount of water

Supporting a huge population

On both sides of the super long river

Building a super diverse civilization community

Its upper reaches rush through the mountain valleys

Playing the stirring sound of " the waves crashing against the shore, rolling up thousands of piles of snow "

(The rapids of Tiger Leaping Gorge on the Jinsha River in Shangri-La, Yunnan, photographer @杜鹏飞)

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Its middle reaches meander through the heart of the plain

Watering out the tenderness of " the wind blows the fragrance of rice flowers on both sides "

(Please watch in horizontal mode, the bend of the Yangtze River and rapeseed fields in the Jingjiang section of the Yangtze River near Yueyang, Hunan in spring, photo by @蓑笠张)

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Its downstream

The endless grandeur of " The Yangtze River flows eastward "

All the way to the sea

(Please watch in horizontal mode, sunrise over the Yangtze River Bridge in Nanjing, Jiangsu, photographer @方人二)

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It is the Yangtze River

6397 kilometers long

It gave birth to its vigor and vitality

The highest plateau and deepest ocean on Earth

Closely connected because of it

1.8 million square kilometers of vast

It has given rise to its rich diversity

A Splendid China

Tightly connected by this east-west axis

(Please watch in horizontal mode, a schematic diagram of the main landscape belts along the Yangtze River, drawn by @陈志浩/Planet Research Institute)

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It nourishes the homes of more than 400 million Yangtze River people.

It is the spiritual totem of the Chinese nation

Along with the Yellow River, it is the mother river of the Chinese nation.

Tracing back to the source

How did the Yangtze River become a super river?

What does it mean to this land?

perhaps

We need to focus

Towards the distant era before the birth of the Yangtze River

01

Before the Yangtze River was born

The first interesting clue

From the land of fish and rice in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River

The Jianghan Plain on the north bank of the Yangtze River

Together with the Dongting Lake Plain surrounding Dongting Lake, it forms

Jianghan-Dongting Lake Plain

Many "firsts" of the Yangtze River have taken place here

It is the first large plain through which the Yangtze River flows.

Here the river breaks free from the mountains for the first time

First time on flat land

A heart-wrenching bend

(Aerial photo of the meander of the Jingjiang River between Yueyang, Hunan and Jianli, Hubei. The open water area on the upper left is part of Dongting Lake. Photographer: @吴亦丹)

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Not only that

The Yangtze River also encountered a large lake for the first time

Dongting Lake

Every year during the flood season, river water flows into Dongting Lake

The water level rose like an ocean

The ancients wrote

"The mist rises from Yunmeng Lake, and the waves shake Yueyang City"

It is true

(Please watch in horizontal mode, watching the sunset of Dongting Lake from Yueyang Tower, picture source: Visual China)

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The two plains are usually considered as a whole.

Two Lakes Plain

It is surrounded by the Daba Mountains, Tongbai Mountains, and Dabie Mountains in the north.

Wuling Mountain, Xuefeng Mountain and Luoxiao Mountain in the south

Surrounded by hills and mountains

(Topographic map of the Two Lakes Plain, drawn by @Chen Zhihao/Planet Research Institute)

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Today's Two Lakes Plain

Lakes everywhere, fragrant rice fields

The entire solar system

Where is the largest crayfish production?

More than half of the country's crayfish are produced each year.

(Farmland and breeding ponds around the Shiqiao River hub of the "Yangtze River to Han River Diversion Project" in Jingmen, Hubei Province, image source: @图虫创意)

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But before it became a rich plain

The Two Lakes Region 100 million years ago

It's just a large low-lying inland lake.

That was the era before the Yangtze River was born

There are only scattered streams from the surrounding mountains.

Maintaining the existence of the lake

Due to the dry climate and low rainfall at that time

And there is no injection of foreign rivers

The lake lacks sufficient supply and cannot flow out of the mountains.

Eventually, it evaporates and becomes saltier and saltier.

Starting about 60 million years ago

The ancient Jianghan Lake gradually evolved into a salt lake

Under the Two Lakes Plain

Salt deposits with a maximum thickness of 2,000 meters

(The Emerald Lake in Dachaidan, Qaidam Basin, only shows the typical environment of the salt lake, photographer @Gong Qiang)

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Who can change the fate of the ancient Jianghan Salt Lake?

Who can escape from the blockade of the mountains?

"Rescue" a dying ancient salt lake?

The earth is calling for a warrior

Calling for a super river that changes mountains and rivers

Where will it be born?

Completely change this land?

02

The humble beginning

In the same era when the ancient Jianghan Salt Lake existed

The power from deep underground

A super rift has started in eastern Eurasia

The earth is constantly being stretched and torn

Along the "torn" area

The ground began to slowly sink

Many settlement areas of different sizes were created

(Illustration of the origins of the two main basin types in eastern China, drawn by Liu Zhipeng/Planetary Research Institute)

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The sedimentation area is filled with water to form a lake

Let the lakes in eastern Eurasia shine

They are the predecessors of many large plains in eastern China today.

Scientists call it a "sedimentary basin"

This also includes the Jianghan-Dongting Basin where the Two Lakes Plain is located.

(Wuhan East Lake, East Lake is an important lake located in the eastern part of the Jianghan Plain, photographer @姜红阳)

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at the same time

From Hubei, my country to Russia

The surface with a total length of more than 2,400 kilometers was also torn apart

Formed an extremely important

Tanlu Fault Zone

The distance between the two sides can be as much as 500 kilometers.

(The relationship between the main sedimentary basins in eastern China and the Tanlu Fault Zone, drawn by @陈志浩)

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These large basins and faults

The direct cause of the Changjiang River

But the predecessor of the ancient Yangtze River

Maybe it's just among the dazzling lakes in eastern China.

An inconspicuous river

Weak and short body

The amount of water is even negligible.

Silently flowing to an ancient lake in the Subei-Southern Yellow Sea Basin

(The aerial photo of the Huaihe River merging into Hongze Lake only shows that the river flows into the lake in northern Jiangsu, and does not mean that the Huaihe River was the predecessor of the ancient Yangtze River. Photographer: @吴亦丹)

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As the Great Rip continues

The fate of the ancient Yangtze River has quietly changed

And where this transformation began

Perhaps it is located at the eastern foot of Dabie Mountain

(Scenery of Tianzhu Mountain in Dabie Mountain, Qianshan, Anhui, photographer @沈奕铭)

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The Dabie Mountains stretch over 380 kilometers from east to west.

Its eastern part is cut off by the Tanlu Fault Zone.

The foot of the mountain is along the Great Fault

Many small basins such as Qianshan Basin and Wangjiang Basin were born

The original hilly area continues to sink

It forms a long narrow low-lying strip

Separates the Dabie Mountains and the Jiangnan Hills

(Topography of the eastern part of Dabie Mountain, drawn by @Chen Zhihao/Planetary Research Institute)

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Caizi Lake, Longgan Lake, Daguan Lake, etc.

A group of lakes with rippling water and thousands of birds flying

(Scenery of Caizi Lake in Anqing, Anhui, photographer @云飞)

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Remaining hills such as Fushan, Duxiushan, and Xiaogushan

Before it completely subsides and disappears

Continue to stand proudly on the banks of the Yangtze River

(Xiaogushan, Susong County, Anqing City, Anhui Province, is a solitary peak close to the Yangtze River. Photographer: @剑心)

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Even the birth of Poyang Lake

It is also related to this super tear

It can even be considered as the extension of this low-lying strip.

(The scenery of Luoxingdun during the dry season of Poyang Lake, photographer @泽雷)

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then

The source of the ancient Yangtze River

We were able to follow this low-lying area up

Going further south

Even once the mountains around the ancient Poyang Lake

For your own source

Achieved rapid growth

(Poyang Lake at the foot of Mount Lu, photographer @李风)

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But relying solely on the power of the Great Rift in Eastern China

It is difficult to continue writing the story of the Yangtze River

The newly emerged ancient Yangtze River still needs a new force

Help yourself to continue growing from east to west

fortunately

The young Yangtze River did not wait

Because thousands of kilometers away in the southwest

Another more drastic change is brewing

03

The sword that cuts through the mountains

65 million years ago

The Indian subcontinent and the Eurasian continent are on full collision course

The Himalayas and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau have gradually risen since then.

Build a familiar

China's topography is high in the west and low in the east

The Jianghan Basin also slowly rose during this process.

Gu Changjiang seized this opportunity

By tracing the erosion

Growing to higher altitudes in the west

(Sketch of river headwater erosion, drawn by Liu Zhipeng/Planetary Research Institute)

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It started from the southeastern part of Dabie Mountain and advanced westward

It took tens of millions of years to cut through the hills of eastern Hubei

Formed the section of the river from Wuhan, Hubei to Jiujiang, Jiangxi today

Smoothly enter the Jianghan Basin

(Guanyin Pavilion in Ezhou, Hubei, built on a remnant hill in the Yangtze River channel in the hilly area of ​​eastern Hubei, photographer @冯光柳)

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Until then

The water of Jianghan Ancient Salt Lake

Only then did we have a real channel for leakage

The Great Lakes gradually faded and eventually receded

rivers that originally fed the great lakes

Join Gu Changjiang

The largest of these

It is the ancient Han River that came from the Qinling Mountains.

(Please watch in horizontal mode, aerial photo of the confluence of the Han River and the Yangtze River in Wuhan, Hubei. The red pavilion on the left is the Yellow Crane Tower. Photographer: @赵高翔)

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The ancient Yangtze River at this time

It is already nearly half the size of the Yangtze River today.

It is in full swing and unstoppable

But a choice question is also placed before it

Is to choose a simple mode and stop at the Jianghan Basin

Gathering from the Qinling Dabie Mountains, the Xuefeng Wuling Mountains

and the many rivers in the western Hubei mountains

Become a river that covers half of southern China

Or challenge hell mode

Find a new goal that is higher, farther, and stronger

Conquer it

And then open up a wider new world?

(Aerial view of Qutang Gorge, the first gorge of the Three Gorges, photographer @黎亮朗)

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Yes

We all know what Gu Changjiang chose

The second gear of the Yangtze River's destiny

Start to turn in the Three Gorges

(Autumn and winter scenery of Kuimen, the entrance to Qutang Gorge in the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River, photographer @weizigo)

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The Three Gorges is the dividing line between the upper and middle reaches of the modern Yangtze River.

The three great canyons of Qutang Gorge, Wu Gorge and Xiling Gorge

193 km long

Since ancient times, it has been known for its steep and majestic

Shocked countless Chinese people throughout the ages

Leaving behind countless beautiful poems

(Scenery of Wu Gorge in the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River, photographer @李心宽)

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Less well known is

In the history of the Yangtze River's growth

The Three Gorges Dam event itself

It is also a magnificent epic of the earth.

(Please watch horizontally, panoramic view of Xiling Gorge in the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River, photographer @王正坤)

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From a satellite perspective

The "Three Gorges Mountains" from Chongqing to Yichang

It is located between two huge arc-shaped mountain ranges.

(Schematic diagram of the north-south arc mountain system in the Three Gorges, drawn by @Chen Zhihao/Planetary Research Institute)

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To its north is Daba Mountain.

Dense arc-shaped mountains continue to expand southward from the Qinling Mountains

Become the vanguard to block the northward movement of warm and humid air currents

Cloudy and foggy all year round, with abundant rainfall

Inspired the poet's " Night rain in Bashan swells the autumn pond "

(Early autumn scenery of Daba Mountain in Chengkou County, Chongqing, photographer @刘勇)

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The southern side extends from Xiangxi to Chongqing.

Wuling Mountain-Qiyao Mountain System

A series of mountains and valleys are arranged in parallel

The unique parallel ridge and valley landscape

Known as the " Earth Strings "

(Please watch horizontally, the parallel ridges and valleys around Chongqing, photographer @山风)

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The two arc-shaped mountain ranges squeeze each other.

The Three Gorges Mountains Continue to Rise

The most violent uplift

Appeared in the Huangling area where Xiling Gorge is located

Originally buried tens of thousands of meters underground

A huge ancient granite body more than 800 million years old

Being lifted to the surface

The Three Gorges Project was built for people today

Providing a nearly perfect solid foundation

(Three Gorges Dam, photographer @魏启扬)

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final

The Three Gorges mountainous area

In central China

Establish a tall watershed

Two ancient water systems were formed on the east and west sides.

West of the Divide

An ancient river flows southwest from the Three Gorges Mountains.

Along the way, it converges with the ancient Jialing River, the ancient Min River and other rivers

Rushing to the southwest

It is the predecessor of today's Sichuan section of the Yangtze River.

Furukawa

(Please watch in horizontal mode. The Jinsha River (center) and the Minjiang River (right) are called the Yangtze River after they merge in Yibin, Sichuan. Yibin is therefore known as the first city of the Yangtze River. Photographer: @柴俊峰)

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The ancient Yangtze River east of the watershed would not know

The other side of the mountain

There is an ally who is "a stranger"

We are attacking the Three Gorges Mountains together

Their rivers grow up the hillsides

Washing away mountains and forming canyons

Finally, it cut through the mountains

This is the birth of the Three Gorges

But the meeting between the two was not warm.

Due to the altitude of the Sichuan Basin in the west

It has long been higher than the Jianghan Basin to the east.

And the precipitation in the east is even heavier

The ancient Yangtze River had a stronger ability to erode upstream

After the Three Gorges Dam was completed

The common opponent suddenly disappeared

Former allies now turn on each other

The source of the ancient Yangtze River is killing the ancient Chuan River

Continue to quickly trace back

Ruthlessly snatching everything that once belonged to Furukawa

(Please watch horizontally, a schematic diagram of the ancient Three Gorges watershed. After the two rivers connected the Three Gorges, the ancient Yangtze River continued upstream and "killed" the ancient Chuanjiang River. Map by @Liu Zhipeng/Planetary Research Institute)

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It snatched the river course of the Furukawa River

Tracing the source of erosion all the way to the southwest

It snatched the tributary of the Furukawa River

The Jialing River, Wujiang River and other river systems have joined the Yangtze River

The Yangtze River is getting stronger

And Furukawa E was heading towards an irreversible death

(The Wujiang River in Fuling, Chongqing merges into the Yangtze River, which has a higher sand content. Photographer: @Instant Coffee Cat)

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Facing the gradually rising Southwest

The ancient Yangtze River has become more powerful

Can continue to break through the endless mountains

Getting bigger and longer?

04

The Great River of Two Powers

40 million years ago

With the rise of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

The Hengduan Mountains and the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau also began to rise rapidly

Making the southwest of China more and more towering

The relatively flat ground in the past is rising

Transformed into the flat-topped mountains that can be seen everywhere in the southwest

(Please watch in horizontal mode. The Dashanbao in Zhaotong, Yunnan, looks at Yaoshan in the distance. Both are high mountains with flat tops. The canyon in the middle is cut by a tributary of the Jinsha River, with a height difference of more than 1,000 meters. Photographer @柴俊峰)

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They even continue to rise

Until enough to freeze the water vapor

Transformed into rows of tall snow-capped mountains

Looking down on the world from a high place

(Please watch in horizontal mode, Haba Snow Mountain, Yulong Snow Mountain and Jinsha River are in the same frame, photographer @梅汉林)

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Jinsha River in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River

Just like this, flowing deep in the mountain valley

Carving out big bends

Send the coldness of the snowy plateau to faraway places

(The Jinsha River Benzilan Big Bend, photographer @柴俊峰)

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For a long time

Several dramatic bends in the Jinsha River

Scientists are paying attention

Especially the "First Bay of the Yangtze River"

Shigu Big Bend in Lijiang, Yunnan

(The First Bay of the Yangtze River in Shigu Town, Lijiang, Yunnan, photographer @柴俊峰)

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Because people are highly suspicious

Millions of years ago

The ancient Jinsha River once flowed south near Shigu

Flows into the Beibu Gulf of the South China Sea

Laojun Mountain, more than 30 kilometers west of the Big Bend,

Hidden

The traces of this ancient mysterious river

(Please watch in horizontal screen, the scenery of Laojun Mountain in Lijiang, Yunnan, photographer @付涛)

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This is a group of mountains famous for its Danxia landscape.

Whenever the sun sets

The reddish-brown rock glows with gold

Looks exceptionally brilliant

(Danxia scenery of Laojun Mountain in Lijiang, Yunnan, photographer @万诱引力)

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This is the masterpiece of the mysterious ancient river

In some distant time and space

It roared in from the still relatively low Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Thick gravel piled up along the way

Eventually it turns into reddish-brown rock

It has become the foundation of today's Danxia scenic spot.

(Danxia scenery of Laojun Mountain in Lijiang, Yunnan, photographer @大闯karma)

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This river is the ancient Jinsha River

Once the upper reaches of the ancient Red River

It flows into the South China Sea in a direction similar to the modern Red River.

Before the Three Gorges were completed, the ancient river

It may have flowed into the ancient Jinsha River.

(Topographic map of the Jinsha River section of the Yangtze River. Laojun Mountain in the west of Lijiang is considered to be the geological evidence left by the ancient Jinsha River. Map by @Chen Zhihao/Planetary Research Institute)

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However, as the Hengduan Mountains and the Yunnan-Guizhou mountainous areas continue to rise

The ancient Jinsha River gradually changed its position eastward

Until we met the ancient Yangtze River that traced back along the ancient river.

The barrier between the two was suddenly broken

The ancient Jinsha River began to merge into the ancient Yangtze River

The river channel that originally flowed south was gradually abandoned.

This change is called river capture

(Instructions for river capture. Capture is a natural change that often occurs in mountain rivers. Map by Liu Zhipeng/Planetary Research Institute)

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Start Here

The appearance of rivers in the southwestern mountainous areas has completely changed

The once-glorious ancient Red River has disappeared

But the ancient Jinsha River and the ancient Yangtze River

The two can also be combined into one, a powerful combination

Giving birth to a young super river

And achieved a stunning turn

From heading south to the sea to heading east

Eventually it became a large river whose entire basin is located in China.

(Scenery of Jinsha River in Qiaojia County, Zhaotong, Yunnan, photographer @柴俊峰)

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Start Here

The source of this new river

Climbing up the rising Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

This young plateau

Connected to the distant Pacific Ocean

(Please watch horizontally, the Tongtian River Canyon in Zhiduo County, Yushu, Qinghai, photographer @水冬青)

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Start Here

Every drop of water under the glacier

Every rain in the southwest mountains

Every river in the southern land

They all turned into roaring rivers

Cut through mountains, fill in basins, connect lakes

Running towards the east

(Please watch in horizontal mode. The source of the Yangtze River, Tuotuo River, originates from the Jianggudiru Glacier in the Geladandong Snow Mountain. The southeastern glacier in the picture also supplies water to the southern source, Dangqu. Photographer: Ma Zhonghai)

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Start Here

The Yangtze River was born

Although we still cannot accurately answer

The exact moment when the Yangtze River was born

Even many details are still blurry.

But from the moment the Yangtze River was officially connected

Another greater creation also begins at the same time

(Please watch in horizontal mode. This diagram of the Yangtze River evolution only shows the process of the Yangtze River source extending and connecting upstream, and does not reflect the changes in land and sea and terrain over tens of millions of years. Map by Liu Zhipeng)

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05

The creation of a super river

The Yangtze River first created a super-large basin

Those great rivers that were once glorious

Now all surrender to the Yangtze River

Each of them will be on the three-level landform ladder

The formed watershed and created landscape

Dedicate all to the Yangtze River

(Please watch in horizontal mode, a schematic diagram of the entire Yangtze River basin, drawn by @陈志浩/Planet Research Institute)

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Originated from the eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Minjiang River, Dadu River, Yalong River

Brought to the Yangtze River

The coldness and sharpness of the snow-capped mountains and glaciers

(View of Mount Emei from the Minjiang River in Meishan, Sichuan, photographer @李陈)

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The Jialing River and the Han River originate from the Qinling Mountains.

Brought to the Yangtze River

The breadth and breadth of the ancient Central Mountain Range

(Please watch in horizontal mode. The Han River flows quietly in the Jianghan Plain covered by morning mist. Photographer @Jerry)

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The Wujiang River and Qingjiang River originate from the karst land in the southwest

Brought to the Yangtze River

The clear water from tiankengs, caves and underground rivers

(Please watch horizontally, panoramic view of Butterfly Rock in Qingjiang, Enshi, Hubei, photographer @李云飞)

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Xiangjiang River, Zijiang River, Yuanjiang River and other rivers

The hotness of Xiaoxiang

Condensed into the 800-li Dongting Lake

Continue to contribute to the middle reaches of the Yangtze River

(Scenery of Orange Island on the Xiangjiang River in Changsha, Hunan, photographer @蒋小翼)

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Ganjiang River, Fuhe River, Xiushui River, etc.

And the vastness of the Ganpo land

Converging into the boundless Poyang

Continue to inject momentum into the lower reaches of the Yangtze River

(A sea of ​​Polygonum aviculare flowers by Poyang Lake during the dry season, photographer @沈俊峰)

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When it finally flows into the ocean

And this infinite sand from the vast space

Keep piling up, piling up

With a broad and rich delta

Infinite splendor created for the Yangtze River

Draw a capital exclamation mark

(Aerial photo of Chongming Island at the Yangtze River estuary, photographer @老J)

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As the Yangtze River forms a super-large basin

The rising Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the three-level terraces

It also led to the final formation of the East Asian monsoon climate.

Plenty of rainfall in the basin

Give the Yangtze River the power to break through the mountains

And eventually let it have an annual runoff of about 970 billion cubic meters

The river with the largest amount of water in Asia and the third largest in the world

It is a veritable super river.

(Please watch in horizontal mode, thunderstorm over the Yangtze River in Wuhan, photographer @CHACHA)

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More importantly

The main body of the Yangtze River is located in the subtropical region

Its basin climate is milder than tropical and frigid zones.

And it is an east-west river in the same climate zone

Compared with north-south rivers that cross different environments

Better rain and heat conditions

(Comparison of rainfall and heat conditions of the world's major rivers, drawn by @陈志浩/Planetary Research Institute)

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That’s why

Most of the Yangtze River basin after leaving the plateau

With plenty of water and energy

Very suitable for human survival and development

About 10,000 years ago

Chinese ancestors first domesticated rice in the Yangtze River Basin

Rice farming goes global from here

Not only lit up the dawn of an ancient civilization

It feeds half of the world's population today.

(Rice fields about to mature in Wuhu, Anhui, photographer @陶洪)

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For thousands of years

People sail on the vast water network of the Yangtze River Basin

The Golden Waterway has created a prosperous golden waterway for thousands of years.

Not only for the growth of an ancient civilization

Make a very important contribution

It continues to contribute to the development of the world today.

(Guazhou Ancient Ferry Park in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, is part of the many ancient artificial rivers at the starting point of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. Ancient shipping and modern Yangtze River shipping complement each other here. Photographer @李琼)

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at the same time

People also continue to build large-scale water conservancy facilities

Resisting floods and developing irrigation

Iterate to develop extremely powerful social organization

To adapt to the frequent flooding of the Yangtze River

(The memorial pavilion of the Jingjiang Flood Diversion Project in Jingzhou, Hubei, built in 1952, picture source: @图虫创意)

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This is not only the final maturity of an ancient civilization

Played a very important role

Today, with a series of super hydropower stations

Leading this civilization

Towards a more low-carbon sustainable future

(Please watch in horizontal mode, Jinsha River Baihetan Water Conservancy Project, photographer @柴俊峰)

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What is the Yangtze River?

It is the great creation of this earth.

It is an inconspicuous sprout

It is a sharp sword that cuts through the mountains

It is also a super river formed by the combination of two powers.

It achieved a stunning turn with an extremely decisive attitude

A deep love for this land

All turned into rolling eastward flowing water

(Scenery of the Chumar River, the northern source of the Yangtze River, photographer @Teng Hongliang)

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What is the Yangtze River?

It is the greatest connection in East Asia

It is the bond between the mountains and the sea.

It is an endless source coming from the snow-capped mountains

It is the huge waves rushing towards the East China Sea

It is the mighty force that moves mountains and fills the sea

It is the infinite warmth flowing to the sky

(Aerial photography of the Yangtze River from Wuhan to Jiujiang, photographer @会孑)

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What is the Yangtze River?

It is the source of the dawn of Chinese civilization.

It is the infinite milk that nurtured Chinese civilization.

It is also a giant dragon that protects the growth of Chinese civilization.

Finally, together with the Yellow River

Together they will become the eternal totem of the Chinese nation

(Overlooking the Yangtze River from the Yellow Crane Tower, photographer @田春雨)

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How lucky

We were born and raised here

We are in the east and west, but we both see the long Yangtze River

We all drink the water of the Yangtze River regardless of north or south

It is the greatest creation of the Yangtze River

We praise the Yangtze River

(Tourists watching the rapids in Tiger Leaping Gorge, photographer @杜建明)

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We are attached to the Yangtze River

(Citizens doing water sports near the Jingzhou Yangtze River Bridge, photographer @耿文舜)

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We respect the Yangtze River

(Boats under the high mountains of Kuimen, photographer @李果)

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We build the Yangtze River

(Construction of Changtai Yangtze River Bridge in Changzhou, Jiangsu, photographer @中吴影像)

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We love the Yangtze River

Love it in its long life

This moment we coexist with

We should thank the Yangtze River

Thank you for this ancient river

Let us have a chance today

An ancient civilization

A magnificent epic of harmonious coexistence with the Yangtze River

Keep writing

(A family relaxing on the Yangtze River beach in Chongqing at dusk, photographer @张炬)

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This article was created by

Written by : Yunwukongcheng

Image : Xia Xue Map : Chen Zhihao

Design : Liu Zhipeng & Han Qing

Proofreading : Li Chuyang & Wu Xintian

Cover Photographer : Wei Qiyang & Chen Ying

【References】

[1] Yang Chaoqun, Zhu Xiangfeng, Wang Liang, et al. The formation of the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River: time, evidence and controversy[J]. Advances in Earth Science, 2024, 39(02): 124-139.

[2] Zheng Hongbo, Wei Xiaochun, Wang Ping, et al. The past and present of the Yangtze River[J]. Science China: Earth Sciences, 2017, 47(04): 385-393.

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