The Yangtze River, the longest river in Asia and the third longest in the world after the Nile and the Amazon, flows for 3,915 miles (6,300 kilometers). The Yangtze rises in the Kunlun Mountains of Tibet in western China and flows into the East China Sea near Shanghai in east-central China. The eight major tributaries are the Yalong, Min, Jialing, Han, Wu, Yuan, Xiang, and Gan rivers.
Fourth in volume among the world's rivers, the Yangtze carries a tremendous amount of water and during the periods of monsoon rains in the summer months, the river and its tributaries swell and can create severe floods such as occured in 1931 and 1954.
The Yangtze is ice-free all year and is one of the world's busiest rivers. Much cargo and passenger traffic travel the river, and its deep waters allow large ships to reach as far as Wuhan, 700 miles (1,100 kilometers) upriver from the coast. Other major cities served by the river and its tributaries include Shanghai, Nanjing, Chengdu, and Chongqing.
The Yangtze River basin is one of the longest-inhabited regions in China containing nearly half of China’s population and also is the granary of China, including 70 percent of the rice crop. Other crops include cotton, barley, wheat, corn, beans, and hemp.
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