The main stream of the Yangtze River is in the upper reaches of Yichang, where the gap is large, the canyon is deep and the water is fast. The famous Tiger Leaping Gorge is just under the stone drum of Jinsha River. Length16km, drop170m. The mountains on both sides are high, and the valley is deep and steep, with a height difference of 2500-3000 meters. The narrowest river is only 30 meters wide. It is a rare grand canyon in the world. The Yangtze River has also formed a strange bend in Shigu Town-the first bend of the Yangtze River. The Yangtze River suddenly made a 1 10 degree turn here. Shigu Town, located at the turning point, helped Zhuge Liang successfully carry out the Western Expedition in history. In the world-famous 25,000-mile Long March, it also used its hard body as a ferry, allowing tens of thousands of troops of the Red Second Army to cross the Jinsha River and enter western Sichuan from here. The Three Gorges of the Yangtze River (Qutang Gorge, Wuxia Gorge and Xiling Gorge) starts from Baidicheng in Fengjie, Sichuan in the west and reaches Nanjinguan in Yichang in the east. The cliffs on both sides of the Yangtze River stand steeply, shrinking the mighty Yangtze River into thin and thrilling rapids, forming the wonders of the Three Gorges we see. There are abundant hydraulic resources here. Now, China is building the Three Gorges Water Control Project here.

The Yangtze River flows out of the Three Gorges and meanders eastward, breaking through the constraints of mountains and becoming a wide river, entering the middle reaches of Woye, which is thousands of miles away and dotted with lakes. "The mountains are flat and the rivers meander in the wilderness" is a vivid portrayal of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. The middle reaches of the Yangtze River are low-lying, with winding rivers and numerous lakes, and the rivers and lakes are interlinked. Poyang Lake and Dongting Lake are two major freshwater lakes in China, located on the south bank of the Yangtze River. When the flow of the Yangtze River is too large, the Yangtze River can borrow these lakes to store water. When there is little water in the Yangtze River, it can be retrieved from the lake.

From Hukou in Jiangxi Province to the estuary is the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, where the river surface is wide and deep and the water flow is relatively gentle. The ebb and flow of the East China Sea along the Yangtze River estuary can affect the reach below Datong in Anhui Province. The middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River bring a lot of sediment. In the downstream, due to the slow flow velocity and the influence of the East China Sea tidal current, the ability of water to carry sediment is weakened, thus dozens of sandbars of different sizes are formed in the river channel, the largest of which is Chongming Island in the Yangtze River estuary. With an area of 1.083 square kilometers, Chongming Island is the third largest island in China after Taiwan Province Island and Hainan Island, and the largest island formed by alluvial deposits in China.

On the plain where the lower reaches of the Yangtze River flow, rice fields are connected with beams, and the lake is rippling with blue waves, showing a unique water town style. The Yangtze River Delta Plain, which is "rich in the world", has added infinite vitality to the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

The water resources of the Yangtze River are the great wealth of China people. The flowing water in the main and tributaries of the Yangtze River is very rich, and the exploitable amount is about10.97 billion kilowatts. The Yangtze River, with its wide width and deep water depth, is the main traffic artery in the south of China and is known as the "golden waterway". The mileage of trunk and branch circulation can circle the earth for two and a half times. Among them, 30,000 kilometers can be used for motor ships, and 1 10,000 tons of seagoing vessels can go directly to Nanjing. When the water level of the Yangtze River is high, it can reach Wuhan directly, and the annual freight volume accounts for more than 60% of the total inland river freight volume in China. Fishery resources are also rich. The whitebait in Dongting Lake and the shad in the Yangtze River estuary, especially the Chinese sturgeon, which is known as the king of the Yangtze River fish, are rare species. Moistened by the Yangtze River, the land in the Yangtze River basin is fertile and suitable for the growth of various crops. Rice production accounts for more than half of the country and is an important grain producing area in China.

Most areas in the Yangtze River basin are warm, humid and rainy, with frequent rainstorms, and floods often occur in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. According to historical records, from the Western Han Dynasty to the end of Qing Dynasty (from 206 BC to191year), there were 2 14 floods, once every1year on average. Since 192 1 year, there have been 1 1 major floods. 193 1 year, flood, 100-day voyage in Seoul, drowning in Jianghan plain145,000 people. Another flood occurred in 1935, killing 142000 people! During the period of 1954, a basin-wide flood occurred in the Yangtze River. This year, the rainy season is 1 times more than normal, and heavy rains occur frequently. The rainfall in the middle and lower reaches from June to July is 1 ~ 3 times of the average rainfall for many years, and the safe water level has been exceeded in various places. Although the Jingjiang flood diversion area was flooded three times, the flood still flooded a lot of land, and the Beijing-Guangzhou line was interrupted for more than 0/00 days, resulting in a direct economic loss of 654.38+0 billion yuan. However, in the dry season, droughts occur frequently in the upper Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, Sichuan Basin and hilly areas in the middle and lower reaches.