East & Southeast AsiaWater

Rivers play a central role in the lives of millions of people in East and Southeast Asia. They provide fish, fresh water, fertile silt, transportation, recreation, and many other essential functions. Rivers and their catchments are the lifeblood of the region.

Rivers

The Mekong River The Huang He (Yellow) River The Yangtze River

● The Mekong River is the 12th longest river in the world. It is about 2,700 miles long.

● Its source is the Lasagongma Spring in Mount Guozongmucha in the Tibetan Plateau, and its mouth is the Mekong Delta in Vietnam emptying into the South China Sea.

● The Mekong River flows through China, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar.

● About 60 million people live in the Mekong River basin.

The Mekong River

● The Mekong River is known by many names. It is called Lancang Jiang (meaning Turbulent River) by the Chinese, Mae Nam Kong (meaning Mother Water) by the Lao and Thai, and Cuu Long (meaning Nine Dragons) by the Vietnamese.

● The Irrawaddy Dolphin, an endangered species, can be found in the Mekong River, and it is also home to the giant river carp (often over a metre long), the Mekong Freshwater Stingray, the smooth-coated otter and the Siamese Crocodile.

The Mekong River

● Cambodians heavily rely on the Mekong River for their food supply and livelihood. Almost 80% of the protein intake of Cambodia is dependent on the fish caught from the Mekong River.

● The Vietnamese people rely on the Mekong River for almost half the water used to irrigate their crops.

● The Mekong River serves as a significant transport channel for the Vietnamese people. It is also a trading centre; as the Vietnamese hold their floating markets on the river.

The Mekong River

Cai Rang Floating Market in Vietnam

● Construction of the Myanmar-Laos Friendship Bridge began in 2013 and there are several Thai-Lao Friendship Bridges. These bridges span the Mekong River in places where the river acts as an international border.

● Laos is planning on building a hydroelectric dam on the Mekong River. This has been highly controversial due to its possible effect on the rivers ecosystems.

● China’s construction of dams and a navigation channel along the upper reaches of the Mekong threatens this complex ecosystem. Seven megadams have already been built, and over 20 more are under construction or being planned in Yunnan, Tibet and Qinghai.

The Mekong River

● The scheme will drastically change the river’s natural flood-drought cycle and block the transport of sediment, affecting ecosystems and the livelihoods of millions living downstream in Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. Impacts to water levels and fisheries have already been recorded along the Thai-Lao border.

● China's dam construction on the Upper Mekong has already caused downstream impacts, especially along the Thai-Lao border where communities have suffered declining fisheries and changing water levels that have seriously affected their livelihoods.

● By changing the river's hydrology, blocking fish migration and affecting the river's ecology, the construction of dams on the Lower Mekong mainstream will have repercussions throughout the entire basin.

Consequences

● Known as the mother river by all the Chinese people.

● The Yellow River is the second largest in China.

● The Yellow River originates from the northern foot of Kunlun Mountains in Qinghai Province.

● It flows 3,395 miles easterly across nine provinces before emptying into the Bohai Sea.

● It has more than 40 tributaries.

The Huang He (Yellow River)

● The river is called yellow because it carries tons of fine, yellow-brown soil called loess.

● Loess blows in from deserts (Gobi) in western China.

● The Huang He has the largest silt content in the world.

● When deposited, the rich soil--along with the rivers water-- makes the North China Plain a major wheat growing area.

The Huang He (Yellow River)

● It is agreed upon by almost all the Chinese people that the Yellow River is the cradle of Chinese civilization and the spiritual home of the Chinese people.

● Throughout history the Huang He has regularly flooded the land, destroying homes, and drowning thousands of people.

● As a result the Chinese have called the Huang He “China’s Sorrow.”

The Huang He (Yellow River)

● The second and third deadliest floods in human history occurred along China's Yellow River (Huang He), in 1887 and 1938 respectively. Loss of life for the 1887 flood was estimated at around 900,000. The flood happened after heavy rainfall put overwhelming stress on the dikes built to contain the river's flow.

● The Yellow River flood of 1938 had a far more sinister and tragic cause as it was purposeful. In an attempt to halt invading Japanese forces, the Nationalist government in central China opened the dikes along the river. The ensuing flood destroyed thousands of small villages and drowned an estimated 800,000 people. It has been called the "largest act of environmental warfare in history."

Yellow River Floods

● The Yangtze River is the largest in China and the third longest in the world.

● The Yangtze River originates in Geladaindong, the highest peak of the Tanggulashan Mountains.

● It flows 3,915 miles eastward traversing 11provinces before emptying into the East China Sea.

● The Yangtze water network covers about 694,983 square miles, accounting for 18.8% of the land area in China.

● Its annual average runoff stands at 2.52 Trillion gallons, accounting for 52 percent of the national total.

The Yangtze

● The river flows easterly emptying into the East China Sea at the port city of Shanghai.

● Yangtze River Basin is a big granary of China. The grain it produces covers a half of the whole nation, of which the rice accounts for 70% in the total.

● Other crops such as cotton, barley, wheat, maize and bean are also produced in the area.

The Yangtze (Chang Jiang)

● Same as the Yellow River, Yangtze River is also the cradle of Chinese civilization. It is endowed with long history and abundant cultural relics.

● For thousands of years, people have used the river for water, irrigation, sanitation, transportation, industry, boundary-marking and war.

● Human activity has been verified in the Three Gorges area as far back as 27,000 years ago, and by the 5th millennium BC, the lower Yangtze was a major population center occupied by the Hemudu and Majiabang cultures

The Yangtze (Chang Jiang)

Majiabang-Songze culture (4000B.C.-2685B.C.)Gray pottery Yi with pig head shape

● The Han River is a major river in South Korea.

● The Han River and its surrounding area have played an important role in Korean history. The Three Kingdoms of Korea strove to take control of this land, where the river was used as a trade route to China (via the Yellow Sea).

● The river is no longer actively used for navigation, because its estuary is located at the borders of the two Koreas, barred for entrance by any civilian.

Han River (Korea)

● The international name for the body of water which is bordered by Japan, North Korea, Russia, and South Korea is disputed.

● In 1992, objections to the name Sea of Japan were first raised by North Korea and South Korea.

● The International Hydrographic Organization, the international governing body for the naming of bodies of water around the world, in 2012 decided not to change the current single name "Sea of Japan."

East Sea/Sea of Japan

● The Japanese government supports the use of the name "Sea of Japan."

● South Korea supports the name "East Sea."

● North Korea supports the name "East Sea of Korea."

● Currently, most international maps and documents use either the name Sea of Japan (or equivalent translation) by itself, or include both the name Sea of Japan and East Sea, often with East Sea listed in parentheses or otherwise marked as a secondary name.

East Sea/Sea of Japan