The Han River (simplified Chinese: 汉江; traditional Chinese: 漢江; pinyin: Hàn Jiāng) is a left tributary of the Yangtze River (Cháng Jiāng) with a length of 1532 km. Historically it was referred to as Hànshuǐ (simplified Chinese: 汉水; traditional Chinese: 漢水; pinyin: Hànshuǐ) and the name is still occasionally used today. The river lent its name to Hanzhong, which lent its name to the Han Dynasty.
The Han River rises in southwestern Shaanxi and flows east across the southern part of that province. To the north are the Qin Mountains, then the Wei River tributary of the Yellow River and the Ordos Loop region. To the south are the Daba Mountains which separate it from Sichuan and Chongqing. The main cities are Hanzhong in the west and Ankang in the east. It then enters Hubei. It crosses most of Hubei from the northwest to the southeast, falling into the Yangtze at the provincial capital Wuhan, a city of several million inhabitants. The merging rivers divide the city of Wuhan into three sections: Wuchang (on the south side of the Yangtze, across the river from the mouth of the Han River), Hankou (on the north side of the Yangtze and the Han), and Hanyang (between the Yangtze and the Han).
Danjiangkou Dam was constructed on the Han River in northern Hubei in 1958. It has been heightened since. The Danjiangkou Reservoir created thereby is now used as part of the South–North Water Transfer Project.
Famous quotes containing the words han and/or river:
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In this viage shal telle tales tweye
To Caunterbury-ward, I mene it so,
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Of aventures that whilom han bifalle.”
—Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?–1400)
“It is from quiet places like this all over the world that the forces accumulate which presently will overbear any attempt to accomplish evil on a large scale. Like the rivulets gathering into the river, and the river into the seas, there come from communities like this streams that fertilize the consciences of men, and it is the conscience of the world that we are trying to place upon the throne which others would usurp.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)