Jialing
Jialing is a mapped river in the YearMaps hydrographic index. River courses organise settlement, agriculture and frontier-making more durably than any political boundary, and this reach is indexed against the dams, lakes and cities within its catchment.
- Feature Class
- River
- Coordinates
- 31.80°, 105.94°
About Jialing
The Jialing River, formerly known by numerous other names, is a major tributary of the Yangtze River in the Sichuan Basin. It is named after the Jialing Valley in Feng County, Shaanxi through which it flows.
The Jialing River's most notable characteristic was formerly its pellucid green waters. It is also notable for its sinuous course in its lower reaches. From Zhangwang Miao (Temple of Zhangfei) in Langzhong to the mouth, the distance as the crow flies is 223 kilometres (139 mi). However the river itself travels 1,117.3 kilometres (694.3 mi). The most tortuous part of its course is between Nanchong and Wusheng County.
Encyclopedic summary adapted from Wikipedia: Jialing River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Jialing in Depth
Geography
The source of the Jialing, in name, is in the Jialin, which means "the tomb of Jia (嘉陵)" in Chinese. Jia (赵代王嘉) was the last king of State Zhao (赵国), who was kidnapped to State Qin (now called Tianshui, Gansu Province, 甘肃省天水市) after Qin defeated Zhao. The river briefly flows through Gansu before reentering Shaanxi and then crossing south into Sichuan.
The longest stem of the Jialing River, however, can be traced to a source in Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan and the entire river is 1,345 kilometres (836 mi) long. This source is located at the head of the Baozuo River, considered a tributary of the Bailong River, itself the primary tributary and main stem of the Jialing River system.
History
The Han and Jialing basins were the heartland of the ancient state of Ba, whose major cities were located at the sites of their tributaries' confluences. The Jialing assumed greater importance when Chu expanded up the Han during the 5th and 4th centuries BC.
The Jialing figures in one of the legends surrounding the Tang-era artist Wu Daozi. During the Kaiyuan Era of the Emperor Xuanzong, Wu was commissioned to depict the course of the Jialing and sent to Sichuan to travel its length for the work. Supposedly, he returned to the imperial palace and completed it in a single day from memory. It is sometimes added that his technique was foiled by Li Sixun, who accompanied him and followed the traditional practice of working slowly from numerous prepared sketches.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Jialing River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Jialing: Key Facts
| Length | 1,119 km |
|---|---|
| Average discharge | 2,130 m³/s |
| Drainage basin | 160,000 km² |
| Mouth | Yangtze River |
| Drainage system | Yangtze River basin |
| Tributaries | Qu River, Fu River, Bailong River, Yongning River, Xihan River, Liujiang River, Zuogan Qu |
Facts from Wikidata Q1045185 (CC0).
Major River Dossiers
Hand-written studies of the great river systems of history.
Connected Reaches
Nearby watercourses in the same drainage network.
Water Bodies in the Catchment
Settlements Along the Reach
Hydraulic Infrastructure Nearby
Surrounding Terrain
Jialing: Quick Answers
- Where is Jialing?
- Jialing is located in China, at 31.7996° N, 105.9432° E.
- Are there dams on the Jialing?
- No dam on the Jialing is recorded in the YearMaps dam index, which covers major structures only.