The Qing River () is a right (southern) tributary of the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang) in

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The ...

province of south-central China.,

Geography

Course

The Qing River

Headwaters The headwaters of a river or stream is the farthest place in that river or stream from its estuary or downstream confluence with another river, as measured along the course of the river. It is also known as a river's source. Definition The ...

originate at Tenglong Cave (Teng Long Dong) near

Lichuan City Lichuan () is a county-level city of the Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, in southwestern Hubei province, People's Republic of China, located west of Enshi City, the prefecture seat. It borders Chongqing Municipality to the southwest, ...

, in Hubei's southwestern corner. The river is long. Its

drainage area A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, t ...

is 17,000 km², occupying large portions of the

Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture () is located in the mountainous southwestern corner of Hubei province, People's Republic of China. It forms Hubei's southwestern "panhandle", bordering on Hunan in the south and Chongqing Municipality ...

and

Yichang Yichang (), alternatively romanized as Ichang, is a prefecture-level city located in western Hubei province, China. It is the third largest city in the province after the capital, Wuhan and the prefecture-level city Xiangyang, by urban populati ...

Prefecture-level city A prefecture-level city () or prefectural city is an administrative division of the People's Republic of China (PRC), ranking below a province and above a county in China's administrative structure. During the Republican era, many of China ...

. The Qing River (Qing Jiang) confluence with the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang) is at the ancient city of

Yidu Yidu () is a county-level city in western Hubei Province, China. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Yichang. It has a population of 395,000 residents, and covers an area of , divided into 1 subdistrict, 8 towns, and 1 t ...

in the Yichang Prefecture of Hubei.

Dams

The Qing River has three large dams on it: the

Geheyan Dam The Geheyan Dam () is an arch-gravity dam on the Qingjiang River, a tributary of the Yangtze River, in Hubei, China. The dam is located in Changyang Tujia Autonomous County (which is part of the prefecture-level city of Yichang), just a few kil ...

, Gaobazhou Dam, and Shuibuya Dam. The Geheyan Dam has a ship lift that can lift vessels of up to 300 tons displacement, to allow water transport upriver from the dam. During the

1998 Yangtze River floods The 1998 China floods (1998年中国洪水) lasted from middle of June to the beginning of September 1998 in China at the Yangtze RiverChinanews.com.cn.Chinanews.com.cn" ''98年特大洪水.'' Retrieved on 2009-08-01. as well as the Nen River, Son ...

the dam effectively held back the Qing River (Qing Jiang) flow. There is also the

Dongping Dam The Dongping Dam is an arch dam on the Zhongjian River (), a right tributary of the Qing River, in Xuan'en County, Hubei Province, China. The primary purpose of the dam is hydroelectric power generation and it supports a 110 MW power station cons ...

on the Zhongjiang River (), the main right tributary of the Qing River. In May 2007 landslides into a reservoir on the Qiaohe River, a tributary of the Qing River, caused significant property damage.

"Qing River Gallery"

The "Qing River Gallery" (清江画廊, ''Qīngjiāng Huàláng'') is a Hubei Provincial Scenic Area that includes a series of scenic sites along the course of the Qing River upstream from the Geheyan Dam up to the Shuibuya Salt Springs.

References

External links

* {{coord missing, Hubei Rivers of Hubei Tributaries of the Yangtze River Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture Yichang