The Han River, also known by its Chinese names Hanshui and Hanjiang, is a major river in

Central China Central China () is a List of regions of China, region in China. It mainly includes the provinces of China, provinces of Henan, Hubei and Hunan. Jiangxi is sometimes also regarded to be part of this region. Central China is now officially par ...

. A

left tributary A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream ('' main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which the ...

of the

Yangtze The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ) is the longest river in Eurasia and the third-longest in the world. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains of the Tibetan Plateau and flows including Dam Qu River the longest source of the Yangtze, i ...

, the longest river in

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

, it has a length of and is the longest tributary of the Yangtze system. The river gave its name to the ancient Chinese

Han dynasty The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...

, which marked one of ancient China's first

golden age The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the ''Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages of Man, Ages, Gold being the first and the one during wh ...

s and through it, to the

Han Chinese The Han Chinese, alternatively the Han people, are an East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Greater China. With a global population of over 1.4 billion, the Han Chinese are the list of contemporary ethnic groups, world's la ...

, the dominant ethnic group in modern China and the most populous ethnic group in the world. It is also the namesake of the city of

Hanzhong Hanzhong ( zh, s= , t= , l=middle of the Han River (Hubei), Han River; abbreviation: Han) is a prefecture-level city in Southern Shaanxi, the southwest of Shaanxi, Shaanxi province, China, bordering the provinces of Sichuan to the south and Gans ...

on its upper course.

Geography

The headwaters of the Han flow from

Mount Bozhong Bozhong Mountain, also known by its Chinese language, Chinese name Bozhong Shan, is a list of Chinese mountains, mountain mentioned in the Book of Documents. It is said to be the source of the headwaters of the Han River (Shaanxi and Hubei), Ha ...

in southwestern

Shaanxi Shaanxi is a Provinces of China, province in north Northwestern China. It borders the province-level divisions of Inner Mongolia to the north; Shanxi and Henan to the east; Hubei, Chongqing, and Sichuan to the south; and Gansu and Ningxia to t ...

. The stream then travels east across the southern part of that province. Its highland valley—known as the Qinba Laolin—divides and is protected by the Qinling or

Qin Mountains The Qinling () or Qin Mountains, formerly known as the Nanshan ("Southern Mountains"), are a major east–west mountain range in southern Shaanxi Province, China. The mountains mark the divide between the drainage basins of the Yangtze and Ye ...

to its north and the Dabashan or

Daba Mountains The Daba Mountains, also known by their Chinese name as the Dabashan, are a mountain range in Central China between the watersheds of the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers. Part of the larger Qinling mountain range, it cuts through four provinces: S ...

to its south. The main cities are

in the west and

Ankang Ankang ( zh , c = 安康 , p = Ānkāng ) is a prefecture-level city in the south of Shaanxi Province in the People's Republic of China, bordering Hubei province to the east, Chongqing municipality to the south, and Sichuan province to the s ...

in the east. It then enters

Hubei Hubei is a province of China, province in Central China. It has the List of Chinese provincial-level divisions by GDP, seventh-largest economy among Chinese provinces, the second-largest within Central China, and the third-largest among inland ...

. It crosses most of Hubei from the northwest to the southeast, flowing into the Yangtze at the provincial capital

Wuhan Wuhan; is the capital of Hubei, China. With a population of over eleven million, it is the most populous city in Hubei and the List of cities in China by population, eighth-most-populous city in China. It is also one of the nine National cent ...

, a city of several million inhabitants. The merging rivers divide the city of Wuhan into three sections:

Wuchang Wuchang is one of 13 urban District (China), districts of the prefecture-level city of Wuhan, the capital of Hubei, Hubei Province, China. It is the oldest of the three cities that merged into modern-day Wuhan, and stood on the right (southea ...

in the south,

Hankou Hankou, alternately romanized as Hankow (), was one of the three towns (the other two were Wuchang and Hanyang) merged to become modern-day Wuhan city, the capital of the Hubei province, China. It stands north of the Han and Yangtze Rivers w ...

to the northeast of the confluence, and Hanyang to its southwest. The area surrounding the confluence is known as the

Jianghan Plain Jianghan Plain (; pinyin: Jiānghàn Píngyuán), named for the confluence of the Yangtze ('Jiang') and Han ('han') rivers, is an alluvial plain located in the middle and south of Hubei, China. Wuhan, the most populous city in Central China, is l ...

. Apart from a few major basins, such as the area around Hanzhong, the highlands of the Han were covered in primeval forests as late as the 19th century. The Nanshan Forest covered the northern slopes; the Bashan Forest, the southern.

Hydroelectric Projects

Danjiangkou Dam The Danjiangkou Dam () is a concrete gravity dam on the Han river near Danjiangkou in Hubei Province, China. The original dam was constructed between 1958 and 1973. The dam creates a large Danjiangkou Reservoir. In the 21st century, the Danjian ...

was constructed on the Han River in northern Hubei in 1958. It has been heightened since. The

Danjiangkou Reservoir Danjiangkou Reservoir () is a multi-purpose reservoir in Xichuan County, Henan and Danjiangkou City, Hubei province, Central China Central China () is a List of regions of China, region in China. It mainly includes the provinces of China, ...

created thereby is now used as part of the

South–North Water Transfer Project The South–North Water Transfer Project, also translated as the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, is a multi-decade infrastructure mega-project in China that aims to channel 44.8 cubic kilometers (44.8 billion cubic meters) of fresh wat ...

Culture

The river was previously considered holy by the inhabitants on its banks.. It is also considered part of the dividing line between

northern and southern China Northern China () and Southern China () are two approximate regions that display certain differences in terms of their geography, demographics, economy, and culture. Extent The Qinling–Daba Mountains serve as the transition zone between ...

Explanatory notes

References

Han dynasty Han Chinese Jianghan Plain Rivers of Shaanxi Rivers of Hubei Tributaries of the Yangtze River {{China-river-stub

Geography

Hydroelectric Projects

Culture

See also

Explanatory notes

References