The Yangtze River or Chang Jiang (), or Drichu in Tibetan () is the longest river in Asia and the third longest in the world, after the Nile in Africa, and the Amazon in South America. The river is about 6,380 km long and flows from its source in Qinghai Province, eastwards into the East China Sea at Shanghai. It has traditionally been considered a dividing point although geographers consider the Qinling-Huai River line to be the official line of geographical division.
Names
The name Yangtze River, as well as various similar names such as Yangtse River, Yangzi River, Yangtze Jiang etc., is derived from Yangzi Jiang () , which, beginning in the Sui Dynasty, was the Chinese name for the river in its lower reaches (specifically, the stretch between Yángzhōu 揚州 and Zhènjiāng 鎮江). The name derives from the ancient ferry crossing Yangzi Jin (扬子津/揚子津, "Yangzi Crossing"). From the Ming dynasty, the name was sometimes written "yángzĭ 洋子." Because it was the name first heard by missionaries and traders, this name was applied in English to the entire river. In Chinese, Yangzi Jiang is considered a historical or poetic name for the river. The modern Chinese name, Chang Jiang (长江/長江 Cháng Jiāng), literally means "long river" and is increasingly being adopted as the standard name in English.Like many rivers, the river is known by different names over its course. At its source it is called in Chinese the Dangqu (当曲/當曲, from the Tibetan for "marsh river"). Downstream it is called the Tuotuo River (沱沱河) and then the Tongtian River (通天河, literally "pass to heaven river"). Where it runs through deep gorges parallel to the Mekong and the Salween before emerging onto the plains of Sichuan, it is famous as the Jinsha River (金沙江 Jīnshā Jiāng, literally "golden sands river").
The Yangtze was earlier known to the Chinese as simply Jiang (江 Jiāng), which has become a generic name meaning "river," or the Da Jiang (大江 Dà Jiāng, literally "great river"). The Tibetan name for the river is Drichu (, lit. "river of the female yak"). The Yangtze is sometimes referred to as the Golden Waterway.