The Jialing River (Simplified Chinese: 嘉陵江; pinyin: jīalíngjiāng; Wade-Giles: chia-ling-chiang) is a tributary of the Yangtze River with its source in Gansu province. It gets its name from its crossing the Jialing Vale in Feng County of Shaanxi. It was once known as Langshui (Simplified Chinese: 阆水; PinYin: làngshǔi) or Yushui (Simplified Chinese: 渝水; PinYin: yúshǔi).

Overview

The Jialing River is 1119 km long; its headwaters are the Bailong River and Xihanshui. From its source, Lianghekou in Lueyang, Shaanxi, to Zhaohua is the upper reaches, while its middle reaches are between Hechuan and Zhaohua. Then, the river joins the Yangtze in Chongqing.

Characteristics

The Jialing River's most notable characteristic is its strong curve. From Zhangwang Miao (Temple of Zhangfei) in Guangyuan to longdongtuo in Hechuan, the distance in straight is only slightly more than 200 km. However the length of watercourse between them is over 600 km. The most tortuous area is between the Nancong and Wusheng.

Tributaries

There are large number of tributaries along the Jialing River. The largest tributaries include Fu Jiang (also known as Sui He) and Qu Jiang, both of which merge together into Jialing River at Hechuan.

Major cities along the river

Lueyang, Guang'an, Wangcang, Jiang'e, Cangxi, Langzhong, Peng'an, Nanchong, Wusheng, Hechuan, Chongqing