Beipan River () is a river in

Guizhou Guizhou (; formerly Kweichow) is a landlocked province in the southwest region of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Guiyang, in the center of the province. Guizhou borders the autonomous region of Guangxi to the ...

and

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the C ...

provinces, China, and part of the great

Pearl River The Pearl River, also known by its Chinese name Zhujiang or Zhu Jiang in Mandarin pinyin or Chu Kiang and formerly often known as the , is an extensive river system in southern China. The name "Pearl River" is also often used as a catch-a ...

basin.

Other names

The upper reaches in

and

were once known as the Zangke River.

Course

The Beipan River passes through the modern Chinese provinces of

and

. When reaching the border of Guangxi, the Beipan River (literally, the Northern Pan River) merges with the

Nanpan River The Nanpan River () has its source in the Yungui Plateau of eastern Yunnan Province. It then flows east, forming part of the border between Guizhou and Guangxi provinces. It joins with the Beipan River to become the Hongshui River The Hongs ...

(the Southern Pan River), forming the

Hongshui River The Hongshui River is a major river in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in Southern China. It is one of the main rivers in the basin of the Xi River, which in its turn is one of the main tributaries of the Pearl River. Because it flows thr ...

, which continues to the southeast.

History

The river was significant in history as a communications pathway between the

Yelang Yelang, also Zangke, was an ancient political entity first described in the 3rd century BC in what is now western Guizhou province, China. It was active for over 200 years. The state is known to modern Chinese from the idiom, "Yelang thinks too ...

and

Nanyue Nanyue (), was an ancient kingdom ruled by Chinese monarchs of the Zhao family that covered the modern Chinese subdivisions of Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hong Kong, Macau, southern Fujian and central to northern Vietnam. Nanyue was establis ...

kingdoms.

Bridges

The river is crossed by the Duge Bridge, the world's highest, the

Qinglong Railway Bridge Qinglong Railway Bridge is the world's longest span concrete arch bridge located in Qinglong County, Guizhou. The bridge forms part of the High speed railway line between Guiyang and Kunming. It crosses the Beipan River just downstream of the G ...

, the Guanxing Highway via the Beipan River Guanxing Highway Bridge, the Liupanshui-Baiguo Railway via the Beipan River Shuibai Railway Bridge, and the G60 Hukun Expressway via the Beipan River Hukun Expressway Bridge. All of these bridges are among the list of highest bridges in the world, highest in the world. There are other bridges under construction over the river that are also extremely high: *Beipan River Shuipan Expressway Bridge *Beipan River Wang'an Highway Bridge

Dams

There are a number of dams along the river including the Guangzhao Dam.

References