The most common saying is Nanjiang Beijiang. This is the classification of geographical areas.

The main basis to support this statement comes from Shuowen in the Eastern Han Dynasty. It is said that "River, the river flows out from Kunlun Mountain outside the Great Wall of Dunhuang and into the sea" and "River, the river flows out from Shu and into the sea outside Minshan Mountain". Xu Shen's definition of "river" is purely based on the Yellow River and the Yangtze River.

Rivers in northern China are often called "rivers". For example: Yellow River, Huaihe River, Weihe River, Jinghe River, Luohe River, Fenhe River, Qinghe River, Liaohe River, Yinma River, Qinhe River, Qaidam River, Tarim River and so on. Rivers in the south are often called "rivers". For example: Yangtze River, Pearl River, Qiantang River, Minjiang River, Nujiang River, Jinsha River, Lancang River, Yarlung Zangbo River, Lijiang River, Jiulong River and so on. Of course there are exceptions. For example, there are Liuyang River in the south and Nenjiang River, Yalu River, Heilongjiang River, Songhua River and Wusuli River in the north.

The second way of saying it is big rivers and small rivers. This is the difference between scale and size.

The main basis for supporting this statement is that a tributary of a river can be called a river, but no tributary of a river is called a river. Some scholars even quoted the classics as saying: in the era of word-making, the source of water flow was called "spring"; The mountain spring splashed on the stone wall is called "water"; The water formed by mountain springs is called "Jian"; The clear stream formed by mountain streams on the ground is called "stream"; The water flow formed by many streams is called "chuan"; A big river formed by many streams is called a "river"; The biggest river is called Jiang.

But this statement is also ridiculous. The Yellow River is bigger than the Aojiang River. Why not call it the Yellow River? According to the geography book, there are four major rivers in the world, in turn: Amazon River, Mississippi River, Yangtze River and Nile River. Why isn't the Yangtze River called the Long River?

The third argument is that entering the sea is a river, and entering the lake is a river. This is the difference between the two ends of the river.

The main people who support this view are Taiwan Province scholars, and most of them are people with China complex. In their view, in China, rivers flowing into inland seas or lakes are usually called rivers. For example, both the Yellow River and the Liaohe River flow into the Bohai Bay, which is an inland sea called the River. Tarim River flows into Lop Nur, also called River; Wait a minute. The river that flows into the sea is called Jiang. For example, the Yangtze River flows into the East China Sea, which is called Jiang; The Pearl River flows in, also called Jiang; Wait a minute.

But this sentence reminds me of the red song by Wanquan River. This shows that the names of rivers in Chinese mainland have this feature. Rivers on our island are customarily called rivers or streams, no matter where they are injected, such as Wanquan River, Zhuoshui River and Dajiaxi.

The fourth argument is that a river without a history of interruption is called a river, and a river with a history of interruption is called a river. This is the difference between river processes.

This view is mainly supported by Taiwan Province, Japanese and Korean scholars, most of whom are geography professionals. From the geographical point of view, the definition of river and river is indeed different: river generally refers to a river with relatively small flow, large seasonal variation and large sediment concentration; Rivers, on the other hand, have the characteristics of large flow, long-term stability and low sediment concentration.

Of course, there are historical and man-made reasons for the naming of rivers, which cannot be generalized, but there is a certain truth. For example, we can find a counterexample in today's China: the Songhua River was cut off for the first time in history a few years ago. According to this statement, should Songhua River be renamed Songhua River in the future?

The fifth way of saying it is that this is just a cultural difference between the East and the West, and both belong to the established appellation. Foreign rivers, no matter how long they are, whether they flow into inland seas, lakes or open seas or oceans, are usually called rivers. For example: Nile, Amazon, Mississippi, Lena, Yenisei, ob river, San Lao Lun and La Plata. ...

There are few rivers called Jiang abroad. Even if there is, it has something to do with our country. There are two main situations: First, rivers pass through China, such as Heilongjiang, Tumen, Wusuli and Nujiang ... Second, rivers on the Korean Peninsula are called Jiang, because for a long time, North Korea and South Korea were tributary states of China, and even the names of rivers were given by China people.

Why are the rivers in ancient China different?

This is not because our ancestors were full when they made words, but because our ancestors had long realized the difference between rivers. In the eyes of ancestors, there is no interruption of history, and rivers flowing into the open sea or ocean are called rivers; A river with a history of interruption and flowing into an inland sea or lake is called a river.