Other editions of book Rivers of the World - The Yangtze

The Yangtze is a dragon of a river -- serpentine, deadly, reluctant to be tamed. For eons before the first primitive villages grew up close to its banks, China's longest river had been flowing east from the mountains of Tibet three thousand miles to the west coast of the Pacific Ocean. For hundreds of generations, no one could have imagined that this mighty dragon could ever be tamed. Yet within the past fifty years, a mere tick on the clock measuring the life of the Yangtze, political and social events within China have contrive to alter the river to improve the quality of life in China. Within this short period of time, factories, ship traffic, dams, and excessive pollution have left the river in dire straights. As the 21st century dawns, some view these changes have provided China with a great leap forward while others believe they are looking at a great leap back.