Dadu River


The Dadu River, known in Tibetan as the Gyelmo Ngul Chu, is a major river located primarily in Sichuan province, southwestern China. The Dadu flows from the eastern Tibetan Plateau into the Sichuan Basin where it joins with the Min River, a tributary of the Yangtze River. Measured from its geographic source, the Dadu is actually longer than the Min and thus forms the main stem of the Min River system.
Shuangjiangkou Dam, expected to be the tallest dam in the world, is being built on the Dadu River.

Geography

Course

The Dokog River in the west and the Markog River in the east both flow southeasterly from the Bayan Har Mountains in Qinghai and into Sichuan Province. The two stems meet in Aba Prefecture, and continue south as the Dajin Chuan. Here, the river flows between the Daxue Mountains to the west and the Qionglai Mountains to the east. In Danba County, the Dajin Chuan meets the Xioajin Chuan and together become the Dadu River in name. The Dadu continues south through Luding until it turns east at Shimian. East of Hanyuan, the Dadu enters the Dadu River Canyon before reaching the lowlands of the Sichuan Basin just below Mount Emei.
The Dadu River receives the Qingyu River tributary and meets the Min at Leshan. At the confluence of the Dadu with the Min, the Dadu possesses both greater water volume flow and a further source so it is considered the true course of the Min River system. From the confluence of the two rivers, the Min continues for another before meeting the Yangtze at Yibin.

History

The Dadu River marks the transition area between traditional Tibet to the west and historic China to the east. For this reason, it has long been considered a frontier region and has hosted many conflicts. For Tibetans, the Dadu is part of the historical province of Kham. In the Chinese tradition, the Dadu forms the westernmost part of Sichuanese culture. Kangding, a historical trading post between Tibet and China, is located in the Dadu River basin.
Upper Dadu River Basin traditionally consists of 18 rGyalrong Principalities, whose language, rGyalrongic, is a distinct branch in the Tibeto-Burman language family.
Completed in 803 CE, the Leshan Giant Buddha is a large statue carved into the rock at the confluence of the Dadu and Min Rivers. The Buddha is a popular tourist attraction today.
The Kangding Louding earthquake of 1786 caused a landslide dam on the Dadu. Ten days later, on June 10 1786, the dam broke and the resulting flood extended downstream and killed 100,000 people. It is the second-deadliest landslide disaster on record.
In the 20th century CE, the Dadu became famous for its Luding Bridge, a historically important bridge crossed by the Chinese Red Army while retreating from the Kuomintang troops during the Long March.

Dams

The Dadu is being heavily developed, primarily for hydroelectric power. As of March 2014, a total of 26 dams are completed, under construction or planned for the river. Those dams are listed below from downstream to upstream.