The Yangtse Goes On Forever

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 106, 7 May 1938, Page 17 (Supplement)

The Yangtse Goes On Forever

By---E. C. W. Lamarque

FOUR THOUSAND YEARS ago a Chinese civilisation was formed by a Mongolian people I who came, it is said, from the then fertile, but now desolate, I Tarim Basin, in Central Asia north I of the Himalayas. They arrived, it i>s also related, first by the valley of the Hwang Ho or Yellow River, and then by that of the Yangtse. The lat tor, known to the Chinese as i the Ch'ang Kiang or Ta Chiang , , mean- ] ing long or great river, rises at an eleva- ] tion of Hi.OOOft among the formidable j ranges of the Tibetan mountains to pour ! its sullen flood through terrific gorges a)id cultivated lowlands for 3200 miles : to the waters of the Yellow Soa. I Tt is probable that Chinese civilisai tion has not, imtil comparatively recently, undergone any very great changes during the long period since its inception, and the great river, now the ! principal commercial artery for its teem- ! ing millions, is much as it was when that civilisation was formed. i i In the Shadowy Pleistocene Days Ages before then, however, back in ! the shadowy past of the Pleistocene, if ; not earlier, a thousand miles or more i of the upper waters of the Yangtse were probably drained through the channel of ; the Red or Song Koi River to the Smith 'China Sea the Song Koi, beheaded when : its upper waters were captured by the j mighty Yaugtso. ! Two other large streams, the Mekong , and the Sulwocu. parallel the Yangtze j for many hundreds of miles on its J initial southerly course: the further of I the two but a bare hundred miles to the west —streams that continue their southerly course to the ocean: the Mekong to the Gulf of Siam. the Salween to the Bay of Bengal. Tt will be noticed. also, that near Shikhu, where the Yangtse makes its first big bend to the north, there is a l<nr. broad t-addle known as the Kinpukou Gap. acioss which, it is said, the Yangtse could have flowed before its last deep entrenchment. . Thus all the upper part of the Yangtse and its great Valnng tributary further to the. east are suppos-.-d to have once formed the head waters of tii-> Song Koi. Such well-known authorities as ,T. \V. Gregory. C. Y. Lee. Gooigo ]{. Harbour and Dr. V. T. Ting, one-time

director of the Chinese flpolnjrical Sur-: miles immediately above Bantaujr on the vey. are here in general agreement, mid Tibetan border, but. even so, the fail it is well known that tin , early Chinese between Bantam: Aiid Pinjrshan SOiHlft [Too^r-ipliers regarded th" true source of j in a distance ot' some 1000 mili-s. where I the Yangtze as the Min-Kiiuij.'. which i the stream is often entrenched in j:i>rgc> I enters the meat river near at | -OdOft deep. ' the hep.d of naviorttinn simie 17(10 liiiK* i In the Too . i<ld miles hetwr.n I*inu- : fruin die Yellow Sea and a thousand i slian and rciiaiiLr the river falls rapirfiyi feet above it. j thr"uj>h purges well known bivnu-e "us- : At J'ini'shan. the rivor lias already eef»*i!>le to iiavipitinu at low or moder-j fallen l.">.Oooft in l-'iOd miles, an average ate water: with the summer ini'ti.-oon. of Hlft to the mile. Nearly 7000 ft of however, and the meltini: rtiows in the thiis drop occur-. liowim el-, in the l."> 01 Tibet highlands, the riviT i'r."|iieiit ly

rises in the jrorues with astonishing rapidity, as mvK-li as lOrtft in 24 hours, with a record flood of 270 ft above lowwater in the Wimlbox Canyon. With a Hood of 150 ft or eo above low ■water in these gorges, navigators are unable to oppose the furious stream and •wait for a decline in the volume. At rChang in June the average high, water is around 750.000 cubic feet a second and at Nanking in July, 1915, a flood of 2.500.00(1 second-feet was recorded. Below I'Clian" the river skirts the northerly side (if the old land-block of south-east China, and is then in the Hupeh Basin focusing on Hankow, 400 miles below I'Chnujr. In this section the river is pcnorally wide and meandering: with an average fall of but 2Un to the mile. Two Hundred Miles Level Below Hankow. <>UU miles from the sea. the fall is little more than an inch to the mile, the la>t -<>0 miles being practically level. The total area drained by this nrinlity stream is fully i.uiU.oo'l equarc miles, fourth-fifths oi which lie above Hankow. The mean di-ciiarjro to the soa about 750,000 cubic si'cuiid-iei't: the yeaily deposit of sediment off its mouth, 300.000.0(10 ti-p- with a cm sequent ly rapid ut nf it- delta. In 19. - il the caused the greatest flood on reeurd. Some :)4.omci i-juare miles were M'ri'iu-'ly affei-ied lx-lnw rchang iiisclviiiL' ><w: - 11,,11 And 4.~> ]~■!■ ri-ut ,■:' all farm ! in the Handed area wit- .1.-: m\ .■ 1. owi" 2(».(KM».OiIU peopi-- • iiii'i-ri .1 and t iota I (if i.vit J.iiiiu.iiiMi.i.ini diil'ars ua« i ntailed. Except .lu: : :;j !l:.- !"» UiKil' fK-rii*.l in uiiit.s. ;' I '•• ■■•lib. r '" Marui. vesM-N i.f fn.ih ■'■i'" l ■•■ I 1""" '"'I- f:<-' naili Hank-.w A- v H.i:ik..n. mil! l.ars and -li.i.ii- ::>.-k.- ni\ i-.-K :.m mmv lliflicult. and ■ ■■ ■'■''■} i--"i-i ,: : : >l--an'-crs arc rt'']iiin.! in :iu- _"'-,•- ;il»ni' l'Chaii-. Sim e i M' , I■>-_-:-:•'11_: ■■! ■ ! 'i- ••i , n:nr\ vari'Hi- :'■-'■ !■• -..!•! "~ in'l »en { i-:n. i. Croat Hrn.-ii' ■•<..} . i'i..- I'.-m ••- : ; .n ■ given tlie l ; ■■•- i ■• .- -.■■:.( i!i" i■••!iti- -> I iiifluem-e .■μ-i , i ...■'.. i lh- Van-! -c ;>.i.»iii. which i> tlii- ii •■■ '■•:u:- i-.ir.iv !'.•!■ half the com iit'svi , ■■; -i , ' ' iiin.i wiiii n- teemill_r. t'• i!ii._• --' ■-■!'■ i .iti' i , .! iniilli'Jir. in ■ ing. f,.; ;-.• : ••-■ ; it. il'-se to the soil. pnr.«e-- ■ - • .i pliil.'-.'phy su curi<_aiK !.> !:. ■ W. ■■ 11 ■•:•': 1. Whaii v. : ;. I- , :'.i • nnc .-f ;■:,■ pres.'ii; -•!:■. i <-\- c\er, we at U-j>m v-:i U» cciiii lii.i; in.- Viiii-ise tor To Ciii.i-.j. kn-.» ii ak... j !; n- up:.. ■ rrarlir- .1- ! ic |\i:ij«l..i Kii !!■■ nr I.uit nf (ioldcll S.ill ! tin, ill~. Tiinl.l-. Mrriver, a mi-1.-r iTi-.it i<>ii ~t .» Vi-:,-r Creator, will n»ni hme •■> p.iii! n- >.-iii-ment-ladcii \iut--r* fmni I lie f.i-i :i<—-i-« of Ihe Tibi-i inj'iiii-i- i-it.i ii,, V ,■!!,,w Sea.