Tongtianhe

Tuotuo River and Dangqu River are called Tongtian River when they meet in nangji Balong area 60 km downstream of Tuotuo River Bridge. The source of Yangtze River is tuotuotuo River, which originates from Geladandong. Tongtian River is the name of Yushu prefecture where the Yangtze River flows through. It is 800 km long and runs through the wide valley of Tanggula mountains and Kunlun Mountains. Traveling on Qingkang highway, 20 kilometers away from Jiegu Town, you can see the monument of Sanjiangyuan Nature Reserve, next to the majestic Tongtian River. It is the only way from Xining to Yushu and from Qinghai to Tibet since ancient times. It is also a natural moat in the upper reaches of the Tianhe river. In the past, frequent Chinese and Tibetan envoys, monks preaching scriptures, believers praying for gods and worshipping Buddhas, and travelers from south to north often used to travel along this ancient road. It is here that the famous chapter of the journey to the west is about the transition to the Sutra. Today, a seven hole reinforced concrete bridge has been built in tongtiandu. Drifting for thousands of years, the cowhide raft has become the target of people's pursuit of novelty photography.

Tongtianhe

Tongtian River, the main stream of the Yangtze River. Located in Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Qinghai Province, it starts from nangji Balong in the west of Zhiduo county at the confluence of Dangqu and Tuotuo rivers, the source of the Yangtze River, flows through Zhiduo County, qumalai County, Chengduo county and Yushu city of Qinghai Province, and ends at xibatang estuary, Jiegu Town, Yushu city of Yushu prefecture, Qinghai Province. It is called Jinsha River hereafter.

Tongtian River is 828 km long from nangji Balong, and 1174 km long from the source, with a total drainage area of about 140000 square kilometers.

The natural drop is 940 meters, the average flow is 400 cubic meters per second, the annual total runoff is about 13 billion cubic meters, the sediment content is 0.74 grams per cubic meter, the river is clear, the water quality is excellent, and the theoretical reserve of the main stream is nearly 3 million kilowatts.

It's said that the famous chapter of "the journey to the west" is here.

The distribution of Tongtian River system is dendritic, and the water quantity of South Bank tributaries is more abundant than that of north bank tributaries. Tongtianhe basin belongs to the alpine climate area. Except for the eastern edge of the plateau, most areas have strong wind, low temperature, thin air, and great vertical difference. The annual average temperature is below 0 ℃. In the lower part of the valley, the climate is relatively mild and humid. On both sides of Tongtian River, due to the complex natural and geographical environment, there are many types of grassland pasture, which is one of the important animal husbandry areas in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. Before the founding of new China, except for grazing, highland barley could only be planted on small plots of land. Since the founding of the people's Republic of China, the area of agricultural areas has expanded, and crop varieties have also increased. Trial planting of wheat, vegetables and all kinds of melons and fruits has been successful, and the yield has also been increasing.

There are abundant Shajin and fish resources in Tongtian River.

Business card picture: lower section of Tongtian River, jiangqin section

Name evolution

Tongtian River is named because it comes from the Qinghai Tibet Plateau, the roof of the world. It originally refers to the upper reaches of the Yangtze River in Qinghai Province. In 1913, Qinghai Tu Shuo published: "the Yangtze River, the ancient name of Lishui, a Shenchuan, a chuwuniu, its upper class Mongolian name mulu Wusu, Fanming Zhouqu, or translated into Zhiqu, Zhouqu, commonly known as Tongtianhe." On the modern map, gariqu (the lower section is called gaerqu) which originated in the east of the dongxueshan group in geladan was annotated as Tongtianhe. The confluence of Dangqu River and Tuotuohe River (nangji Balong) was defined as the starting point of Tongtian River (92 ° 54 ′ 48 ″ e, 34 ° 05 ′ 38 ″ n), the ending point at the entrance of Batang River in Yushu City (97 ° 14 ′ 48 ″ e, 32 ° 58 ′ 34 ″ n), and the Jinsha River below. The river reaches from nangji Balong to gaerqu are classified as Dangqu, Buqu and gaerqu respectively, so the name "mulu Wusu River" is no longer used.

Source region of Yangtze River

The upper source water system of the Yangtze River is mainly composed of chumar river system in the north, Tuotuo River System in the West and Dangqu river system in the south. Dangqu, which originated in Zaduo County, and Tuotuo River, which originated in Tanggulashan town (Yushu prefecture) of Golmud City, Qinghai Province, are called Tongtianhe after they meet in nangji Balong, which is at the junction of Tanggulashan town of Zhiduo County of Golmud City and Suojia township of Zaduo county. At the junction of qumalai county and Zhiduo County, riluolong, qumahe Township, receives chumar river.

The Yangtze River was called "Jiang" in ancient times, and it was called Dajiang or Yangtze River only after Han, Wei and six dynasties. The Yangtze River Basin is the birthplace of the 5000 year civilization of the Chinese nation. Therefore, people have been looking for the source of the Yangtze River for a long time. In the famous ancient book Shangshu Yugong, there are records of "Minshan leading the river" and "the river originated from Min". The source of the Yangtze River is the Jialing River in Minshan Mountain. In the Ming Dynasty, Xu Xiake, a famous geographer in China, went up the Jinsha River in 1641 and made a field investigation in Sichuan and Yunnan. He believed that the Jinsha River was the upper source of the Yangtze River. In the Qing Dynasty, the imperial court "repeatedly sent envoys to the source of the poor River, measured the land, and drew maps.". In the process of making Huangyu quanlan Tu, Emperor Xuanye of the Qing Dynasty sent chuerqin Zangbu, lanmuzhanba and Shengzhu to "draw the Xihai (Qinghai) Tibet map" in 1717 The envoys surveyed the terrain, crossed the source of the river, and covered thousands of Li, such as walking on the steps, one mountain and one water, learning people's map records. "On the spot investigation of the mountain system at the upper source of the Yangtze River, the map has drawn Tongtian River, mulu Wusu River and other rivers, but which river is the main source of the Yangtze River, we have to use the saying" the source of the river is like a broom, scattered widely ". Some foreign explorers have explored the source of the Yangtze River, but nothing has been found.

In 1976 and 1978, the Yangtze River Water Resources Commission organized two investigations on the source of the Yangtze River. In 1976, the first survey of Tuotuo River was 375 km long, Dangqu 362 km long, and Tuotuo River was 13 km longer than Dangqu. According to "the source of the river is only far away" and the flow direction is relatively straight, it was determined that tuotuotuo river is the main source of the Yangtze River. After the second survey in 1978, the data were revised, and the tuotuotuotuo river is 358 km long, Dangqu 357 km long, and tuotuotuotuo river is only 1 km longer than Dangqu.

In 1983, the Bureau of hydrology of the Yangtze River Water Conservancy Commission measured the whole Yangtze River. The length of the Tuotuo River is 346 km, that of the Dangqu river is 352 km, and that of the Tuotuo River is 6 km shorter than that of the Dangqu river. According to the measurement of the scientific expedition drifting team in 1986, the Tuotuo River (the source of which is the West Branch of naqinqu, excluding the glacier) is 6.8 km shorter than that of Dangqu, and the Tuotuo River (the East Branch of naqinqu, including the glacier) is 0.8 km longer than that of Dangqu.

On June 5, 1999, the former State Environmental Protection Administration, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the State Bureau of Surveying and mapping, the people's Government of Qinghai Province and the people's Government of Sichuan Province erected the environmental protection monument at the intersection of the Tuotuo River and the Qinghai Tibet highway and at the foot of jiangguru glacier on the Dongxue mountain of geladan, which was written by then President Jiang Zemin. There are two environmental protection monuments, one is a monument, standing on the Bank of Tuotuo River, and the other is a marker monument, standing at the foot of jiangguru glacier in Geladandong snow mountain.

From September 6 to October 16, 2008, a scientific investigation team of outstanding scientists from the fields of Surveying and mapping, remote sensing, hydrology and geology in China conducted a field investigation on the source of the Yangtze River by using modern high-tech. This scientific examination can be called the one with the largest scale, the most complete categories of science, the most advanced technology and the strongest lineup in Chinese history. The length, water flow and drainage area of Dangqu are larger than those of Tuotuo River. According to the scientific data obtained from this investigation, Dangqu should be the "real source" of the Yangtze River.

Nanyuan Dangqu

Dangqu, originated in the eastern part of the Tanggula mountains at an altitude of 5395 in Zaduo county. The river is 352 km long and covers an area of 30000 square kilometers, ranking first among the rivers at the source of the river. The Tibetan word "Dangqu" means "swamp River". Its source is the contiguous swamps and springs. After the formation of the initial source of Qu, it first flows from south to north, then to northwest and northeast, and then flows from west to East.

In September 2008, after 41 days of scientific investigation on the source of the three rivers in Qinghai Province and a journey of more than 7300 kilometers, the "scientific investigation on the source of the three rivers" team led by Liu shaochuang, a famous river explorer, believed that the south source of the Yangtze River was the right source, overturning the traditional view that the Tuotuo River was the right source. Modern high-tech technologies such as global positioning system, geographic information system and remote sensing technology were used in this scientific examination, many of which were first used in the scientific examination of the source of the three rivers. According to the most advanced surveying and mapping instruments in the world, the longest tributary of Tuotuo River is 348.63 km, while that of Dangqu river is 360.34 km, 11.71 km longer than that of Tuotuo River. If this conclusion is recognized by the state, it means that the length of the Yangtze River will be updated and China's geography textbooks will be rewritten.

Xiyuan Tuotuo River

Tuotuo River, also known as Taotao river. It is called "maerqu" in Tibetan, which means "Red River", and "tuoketuonaiwulanmulun" in Mongolian, which means "peaceful river". Tuotuo River is the West Branch of the source of the Yangtze River. It was designated as the main source of the Yangtze River in 1987. It originates from the Geladandong snow mountain group in Golmud City, Qinghai Province. The source is called naqinqu. It is a stream formed by melting water of the glacier. The water surface is 3 meters wide and about 0.2 meters deep. It flows from south to North in the valley. After more than 30 kilometers, it converges with cesumequ and is called tuotuotuo river. The North Stream cuts through the zuerkenwula mountain, forming a canyon several kilometers long. The river bank is as steep as a wall, tens of meters high. To the southeast of Hulu lake, the river tower bends to the East

Chinese PinYin : Tong Tian He