Xiang River

The Xiang River (Chinese: 湘江 or "湘水"; Pinyin: Xiāng Jiāng or Xiāng Shuǐ), also known as Xiangjiang and, in old transliterations, as Siang and Hsiang, it is a river in the southeast of the People's Republic of China. This river gives the province of Hunan its Chinese abbreviation: Xiang.

Geography

The Xiang River has its source in the Haiyang Mountains in Guangxi. It is the longest river in Hunan Province and a major tributary of the Yangtze River. It has a length of 856 km (650 of them in Hunan province). It is said that this river shares its origins with the Lijiang River, since both join in the Lingqu channel: 70% of the channel's water goes to the Xiang; and the remaining 30% to Lijiang.

The river ends at Dongting Lake, through which it then empties into the Yangtze. It has 2,157 branches and drains a basin of 96,400 km², of which 85,300 are in Hunan (40% of the province).

Its main tributaries are, in a downstream direction, the following rivers:

• river Lei (水️), on the right, with a length of 439 km and a basin of 11 905 km2;
• river Xiao or Xiashui (水️), on the right, with a length of 354 km and a basin of 12 099 km2;
• river Zheng (水️), on the left, with a length of km and a basin of km2;
• River Mi (Mi️), on the right, with a length of 296 km and a basin of 10 305 km2;
• River Lian or Lianshui (水️), on the left, with a length of 232 km and a basin of 7 150km2;
• River Laodao He (河γ), on the right, with a length of 141 km and a basin of 2 543 km2;
• River Liuyang (patient), on the right, with a length of 234 km and a basin of 4 665 km2;
• Weishui He river (水️) on the left, with a length of 144 km and a basin of 2 750 km2;

The river passes through many important towns and cities, the most prominent being: Xing'an, Quanzhou and Dongan, Yongzhou, Qiyang, Hengyang —the second most populous city in Henan, with 879,051 inhabitants. in the city proper in 2003—, Zhuzhou, Xiangtan, Changsha—capital of Hunan province and with an urban population of 2,131,620. in 2003—, Wangcheng and Xiangyin

The valley irrigated by the river is one of those with the greatest concentration of industry in the entire country. It is also rich in manganese and zinc deposits. The river delta is an important rice growing area.

Most of the course of the Xiang River is navigable and has served as a connection between north and south for centuries.

Legend

According to tradition, the river is protected by two goddesses: Ehuang (娥皇) and Nüying (女英).

They were the wives of the mystic Shun. Unable to bear the grief over the death of her husband, they committed suicide in the Xiang River. The banks of the river are full of bamboo, known as "the bamboo of consorts." According to legend, this bamboo is the tears shed by the two women.

During the Warring States period, the Chu worshiped these two goddesses.

History

In recent Chinese history, the Xiang River has special significance due to the Battle of the Xiang River in 1934, which pitted the Red Army of the Communist Party of China against the Army of the Republic of China in the early stages of the Long March.