The Yangtze River is important to China for their history, culture, and economy. It starts at the Tibet plateau and falls 16,000 feet (over 3 miles) by the time it gets to Chongquin which explains the volume displayed in the pics at Chongquin. Because it drags so much silt with it, the river beds downstream are slowly rising and major floods have occurred on average every 10 years for the past 2000 years. This problem was finally addressed with the building of the huge Three Gorges Dam completed in 2006. Still the river will rise during the rainy season in some locations as much as 90 feet which is better than the 270 foot rise in some placeds they were getting every 10 years or so.
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