The Yangtze River is the longest river in Asia, winding for 6,300 kilometers in China. The whole Yangtze River basin covers one-fifth of the country's area, raising nearly one-third of China people. The Yangtze River Economic Belt is also the largest economic region in China.
In many people's minds, both the Yangtze River and the Yellow River originate in the Himalayas. Actually, this is a wrong concept. In fact, the source of the Yangtze River has nothing to do with the Himalayas.
In ancient times, people have never been able to figure out the source of the Yangtze River. In Gong Yu, the earliest description of the Yangtze River in history books mentioned that "Minshan River draws water from the river, and it is adjacent to Tuo in the east" for a long time, which made many people think that the Minjiang River is the source of the Yangtze River. Li Daoyuan of the Northern Wei Dynasty described the Jinsha River in a large number in Notes on Water Classics, but did not clearly put forward the conclusion that the Yangtze River originated from the Jinsha River.
In the Ming Dynasty, Xu Xiake wrote the famous Textual Research on the Source of the Yangtze River after on-the-spot investigation of Jinsha River and Minjiang River. He questioned that the Yangtze River originated from the Minjiang River and thought: "Whoever pushes the source of the Yangtze River must be headed by the Jinsha River." That is, he thinks that the Yangtze River originates from the upper reaches of Jinsha River.
In the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, Qi pointed out that Tongtianhe River was the source of the upper reaches of Jinsha River, and made a comprehensive description of the upper reaches of Jinsha River, such as Gaerqu, Tuotuo, Dangqu, Dongqu and Chuma River. In fact, this is very close to the source of the Yangtze River, but Qi did not point out which river is the main source of the Yangtze River.
1976, led by the Yangtze River Basin Planning Office and some media organizations in the United Nations, a 28-member Jiangyuan filming and investigation team made a field trip to the source of the Yangtze River, and determined that the source of the Yangtze River was Tuotuo River (the main source) on the south side of Dalan Snow Mountain, the main peak of Tanggula. Tangqu River and Chuma River were collectively called the north-south source, and the three rivers merged into Tongtian River. This is the famous theory of the Three Sources of the Yangtze River, which has been in use ever since.
The theory of three sources of the Yangtze River has been widely recognized by academic circles, but there are still many disputes about which river is the main source. Opponents believe that the water flow of Dangqu River is at least five times that of Tuotuo, and the drainage area is 1.8 times that of Tuotuo, so Dangqu River should be the main source of the Yangtze River.
In the second year after Tuotuo River was declared as the main source of the Yangtze River, that is,1August, 978, the Sixth Surveying and Mapping Brigade of Lanzhou Military Region photographed the source of Dangqu River along the route that the scientific research team entered the river two years ago, and put forward the view that Dangqu River was the main source of the Yangtze River, but it was not adopted.
In 2008, the Institute of Geography of China Academy of Sciences launched a scientific investigation on the source of the Three Rivers, and conducted a scientific investigation on Tuotuo River, Dangqu River and Chuma River according to international standards (the source of the Yangtze River is only long and the flow is only large, which is consistent with the mainstream direction). The conclusion this time is that the source of the Yangtze River is the Dangqu River. However, the conclusion of this scientific research is still not recognized.
In any case, the Yangtze River originates from Kunlun Mountain and Tanggula Mountain on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. I believe that with the passage of time, there will be a clear conclusion about who is the real main source of the Yangtze River in the three rivers.