Panorama of Yangtze

The Changjiang (Yangtze) River, which drains one-fifth of China's vast territory, has given rise to the brilliant Bashu, Nanzhao and Wuchu cultures in its basin. It is only natural that people have always yearned to know where it originates. Down the centuries, many have attempted the arduous journey to trace its source; and many have failed.
According to Yugong (Tribute of Yu), a geographical treatise written during the Warring States Period (475-221B.C.), the Minshan Mountains were the source of the Changjiang. However, subsequent investigations showed that the Minshan referred to in Yugong are actually not Sichuan Province's Minshan, from which the Minjiang River originates, but the Bozhong Mountains located on the upper reaches of the Jialing River, southwest of Gansu Province's Tianshui. Evidently, the author of Yugong mistook the Jialing for the source stream of the Changjiang. After the Han Dynasty (206B.C.-A.D.220), the Minjiang was considered the head stream of the Changjiang and the Jinsha (Golden Sands) River as one of its tributaries. This can be seen from the statement in "Notes on Geography" in the History of the Han Dynasty:"The Suijiu (in present-day Ninglang Yi Autonomous County, Yunnan Province) and Shengshui (now the Jingsha River) originate outside the border and flow eastward to join the Changjiang at Bodao (present-day Yibin in Sichuan)."
The famous Ming Dynasty geographer Xu Xiake (1586-1641) contributed greatly to the solution of this question when he explored the Jinsha and Huanghe (Yellow) Rivers, making comparisons between the two. In his Exploration of the Source of the Changjiang, he argued:"How can it be that the source stream of the Changjiang is shorter than that of the Huanghe? Is the Huanghe any larger than the Changjiang? Judging from their volume of flow, the Changjiang is much the larger." He pointed out at this time that the Jinsha should be the source of the Changjiang, thus correcting the earlier, erroneous claims. The geographer also explained why his predecessors had failed to clearly locate the river's source. He wrote:"The Jinsha twists and turns through inhospitable valleys and mountains inhabited by barbarians, making it impossible to trace its source either by water or by land." Because of the harsh conditions, Xu Xiake reached Lijiang in Yunnan but was unable to go upstream to further pinpoint the source, let alone explore the Tongtian River above.
In 1720, Qing Dynasty emperor Kangxi sent an official to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to once more search for the elusive source of the Changjiang and investigate the mountains, rivers and hydrographic system of the region. However, the expedition was, as those before it, much hampered by the difficult terrain and communications and the harsh climate on the plateau. Unable to accurately place the river's source, the court official returned with a sweeping report, saying that "the source stream fan out like a huge broom."
During the last century, many foreigners have explored the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau as well. Although some have reached as far as the upper stream of the Tongtian, they have never located the source of the Changjiang.
Geographical works published in China during the first half of this century consistently claimed that the Changjiang originated in the southern slopes of the Bayan Har Mountains in Qinghai, and the Huanghe rose in their northern slopes. These stories were repeated in primary and middle school textbooks, thus becoming widely accepted. >> Click here to see more about Yangtze River