The Dangqu, Dam Qu ( Chinese: , p ''Dāngqū'') or Dam Chu ( Tibetan: , w '''Dam Chu'', lit. "Marshy River") is the longest source of the

Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ) is the longest river in Eurasia and the third-longest in the world. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains of the Tibetan Plateau and flows including Dam Qu River the longest source of the Yangtze, i ...

, with a total length of located in the

Qinghai Qinghai is an inland Provinces of China, province in Northwestern China. It is the largest provinces of China, province of China (excluding autonomous regions) by area and has the third smallest population. Its capital and largest city is Xin ...

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. It runs from its source in an eastern offshoot of the

Tanggula Mountains The Tanggula ( Chinese: , p ''Tánggǔlāshān'', or , p ''Tánggǔlāshānmài''), Tangla, Tanglha, or Dangla Mountains ( Tibetan: , w ''Gdang La'', z ''Dang La'') is a mountain range in the central part of the ...

(), receives its main tributary the Buqu-Gar Qu River (), and has a confluence with the Ulan Moron, where the

Tongtian River The Tongtian River ( zh, , ) or Zhi Qu ( Tibetan) is a long river in Qinghai Province in western China. It begins at the confluence of the Ulan Moron and Dangqu rivers, before flowing southeast and meeting the Jinsha River near the border ...

is formed. The Dangqu has been discovered to be the actual and the longest headwater of the Yangtze River under modern criteria, although the nearby Ulan Moron or Tuotuo was traditionally regarded as the primary river of the two.

Moron Us

Traditionally, the Dangqusometimes under the name ''Akdam'', ''Akedamuqu'', or ''A-ko-ta-mu-ch'ü''and the Buqu were both regarded as tributaries of the Garqu (), then known as the Moron Us ( Mongolian: or , ; , p ) or Dequ (, ). Under modern criteria, the Garqu is instead considered to be a tributary of the Buqu.

References

{{China-river-stub Rivers of Qinghai