Pearl River (China)

Coordinates: 22°46′N 113°38′E / 22.767°N 113.633°E / 22.767; 113.633

Pearl River (珠江)
Zhū Jiāng
Pearl River in Guangzhou
Nickname: Pl
Countries China, Vietnam
States Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macau, Cao Bằng, Lạng Sơn
Source various sources of its tributaries
Mouth South China Sea
Length 2,400 km (1,491 mi) [1]
Basin 453,700 km2 (175,175 sq mi) [2]
Discharge
 - average 9,500 m3/s (335,489 cu ft/s) [3]
The course of the Pearl River system through China and Vietnam
Pearl River
Chinese 珠江
Yue River / Guangdong River
Traditional Chinese 粵江
Simplified Chinese 粤江

The Pearl River or Zhu Jiang (Chinese: 珠江; pinyin: Zhū Jiāng; Jyutping: zyu1 gong1, literally "Pearl River", pronounced [ʈʂú tɕjɑ́ŋ]; Portuguese: Rio das Pérolas) or less commonly, the Guangdong River or Canton River, (Chinese: 粤江), is an extensive river system in southern China. The name Pearl River is usually used as a catchment term to refer to the watersheds of the Xi River ("West River"), the Bei River ("North River"), and the Dong River ("East River"). These rivers are all considered tributaries of the Pearl River because they share a common delta, the Pearl River Delta. Measured from the farthest reaches of the Xi Jiang, the Pearl River system is China's third longest river, 2,400 kilometres (1,500 mi), after the Yangtze River and the Yellow River, and second largest by volume, after the Yangtze. The 409,480-square-kilometre (158,100 sq mi) Pearl River Basin (珠江流域) drains the majority of South Central, (Guangdong and Guangxi provinces), as well as parts of Southwest (Yunnan, Guizhou, Hunan and Jiangxi provinces) in China, and Northeast of Vietnam (Cao Bằng and Lạng Sơn).

As well as referring to the system as a whole, the Pearl River (Zhu Jiang) name is also applied to a specific branch within the system. This Pearl River is the widest distributary within the delta, although considerably short. The waters that converge east of the Bei Jiang are first referred to as the Pearl River just north of Guangzhou. The Pearl River is famed as the river that flows through Guangzhou. The Pearl River's estuary, Bocca Tigris, is regularly dredged so as to keep it open for ocean vessels. The mouth of the Pearl River forms a large bay in the southeast of the delta, the Pearl River Estuary, the Bocca Tigris separates Shiziyang in the north, Lingdingyang in the south, and Jiuzhouyang at the southern tip of the estuary surrounded by the Wanshan Archipelago. This bay separates Macau and Zhuhai from Hong Kong and Shenzhen.

The Pearl River is named this because of all the pearl colored shells that lie at the bottom of the river in the section that flows through the city of Guangzhou.

A 500 kV-power line, suspended from three of the tallest pylons in the world, the Pylons of Pearl River Crossing, crosses the river near its mouth.

Zhujiang Brewery, one of the three largest domestic breweries in China, is located on the Pearl River Delta within the city of Guangzhou.

Image gallery

Settlements

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Crossings

Tributaries

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pearl River (China).

References

  1. ↑ Encyclopaedia Britannica: Yangtze River
  2. ↑ "珠江概况". 珠江水利网.
  3. ↑ "Chapter 5: Plate D-6 — GES DISC: Goddard Earth Sciences, Data & Information Services Center". Disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2012-11-08.
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