Qiantang River

A large river that flows through Zhejiang Province, China. It is also called Zhejiang and is the origin of the name of the province, because it has many bends. It is 494 km long and has a drainage area of ​​54,349 square km. The upstream Changshan Port originates at Qingzhi Daijian, which is on the border between Zhejiang, Anhui, and Jiangxi Provinces, and merges with Jiangshan Port west of Quzhou City to become the Xin'an River. It then flows east and merges with the Jinhua River near Lanxi County to become the Lan River, and is called the Tong River until it merges with the Xin'an River in Jiande County and reaches Tonglu. Furthermore, the section from Tonglu to Wenyan in Xiaoshan County is called the Fuchun River, and from Wenyan to the Zhaokou in Hangzhou City, the river is called Zhi River because the river course meanders like the character "zhi". The section downstream from the zhaokou is called the Qiantang River, which forms a estuary and empties into Hangzhou Bay. As the estuary is a estuary, the tidal range is significant, and during spring tides the seawater flows backwards, creating a spectacular sight that is famous as the "Qiantang Tide". Because the main stream flows fast, small steamboats can only travel downstream from Jiande County, but when the water level rises they can travel up to Lanxi. The rivers in the upper reaches are short and rapid with deep valleys and many canyons and shallows, but they have abundant hydroelectric potential. After the liberation, hydroelectric power stations were built at the Xinanjiang River, Fuchunjiang River, Huangdankou, and other locations, with the Xinanjiang River Hydroelectric Power Station being the largest, with an output of 652,000 kilowatts.

[Kazuo Hayashi]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、浙江(せっこう／チョーチヤン)省を流れる大河。浙江ともよばれ浙江省の名の起源となっているが、これは屈曲が多いためといわれる。全長494キロメートル、流域面積5万4349平方キロメートル。上流の常山港は浙江・安徽(あんき／アンホイ)・江西(こうせい／チヤンシー)3省の境界にある青芝埭尖(せいしれいせん)に源を発し、衢州(くしゅう／チュイチョウ)市の西で江山港と合流して信安江となる。その後、東流して、蘭渓(らんけい／ランシー)県付近で金華江をあわせて蘭江となり、建徳(けんとく／チエントー)県で新安江(しんあんこう／シンアンチヤン)と合流して桐廬(とうろ)に至るまでを桐江と称する。さらに桐廬から蕭山(しょうざん)県聞堰(ぶんえん)までの間を富春江(ふしゅんこう／フーシュンチヤン)とよび、聞堰から杭州(こうしゅう／ハンチョウ)市閘口(こうこう)までは河道が「之」の字のように曲折しているところから之江(しこう)という。銭塘江とよばれるのは閘口から下流で、三角江をなし杭州湾に注ぐ。河口が三角江で潮の干満の差が著しく、大潮の際には海水が逆流して壮観を呈し、「銭塘潮」として有名である。本流は流れが速いため、小汽船は建徳県より下流にしか通じないが、増水時には蘭渓まで遡航(そこう)できる。上流部の諸河川は短い急流で谷は深く刻まれ、峡谷や浅瀬が多いが、包蔵水力が豊富で、解放後、新安江、富春江、黄壇口(こうだんこう)などに水力発電所が建設され、とくに新安江水力発電所は65万2000キロワットの出力でもっとも規模が大きい。

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