The Yangtze River is also called Changjiang in Chinese, which means Long River, over 6,300 kilometers long, is the largest and longest river in China, and the third-longest in the world, next only to the Nile in northeast Africa and the Amazon in South America. The source of the Yangtze River lies to the west of Geladandong Mountain, the principal peak of the Tanggula Mountain chain in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, southwest of China. The river flows from west to east via provinces of Qinghai, Tibet, Sichuan, Yunnan, Sichuan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui and Jiangsu as well as the city of Shanghai, finally emptying into the East China Sea. With plenty of rainfall all year round, the Yangtze River is named the golden watercourse.

The most impressive section of the river is the three Yangtze River gorges: Qutang Gorge, Wuxia Gorge and Xiling Gorge, collectively known as Sanxia, or the Three Gorges.