The Songhua or Sunghwa River (also Haixi or Xingal, ''Sungari'') is one of the primary rivers of China, and the longest

tributary A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they ...

of the

Amur The Amur River () or Heilong River ( zh, s=黑龙江) is a perennial river in Northeast Asia, forming the natural border between the Russian Far East and Northeast China (historically the Outer Manchuria, Outer and Inner Manchuria). The Amur ...

. It flows about from Changbai Mountains on the

China–North Korea border The China–North Korea border is an Border, international border separating China and North Korea, extending from Korea Bay in the west to a China–North Korea–Russia tripoint, tripoint with Russia in the east. The total length of the borde ...

through China's northeastern

Jilin ) , image_skyline = Changbaishan Tianchi from western rim.jpg , image_alt = , image_caption = View of Heaven Lake , image_map = Jilin in China (+all claims hatched).svg , mapsize = 275px , map_al ...

and

Heilongjiang Heilongjiang is a province in northeast China. It is the northernmost and easternmost province of the country and contains China's northernmost point (in Mohe City along the Amur) and easternmost point (at the confluence of the Amur and Us ...

provinces. The river drains of land, and has an annual discharge of to . The extreme flatness of the Northeast China Plain has caused the river to

meander A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the Channel (geography), channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erosion, erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank (cut bank, cut bank or river cl ...

over time, filling the wide plain with

oxbow lakes An oxbow lake is a U-shaped lake or stream pool, pool that forms when a wide meander of a river is meander cutoff, cut off, creating a free-standing body of water. The word "oxbow" can also refer to a U-shaped bend in a river or stream, whether ...

, as remnants of the previous paths of the river.

Geography

The Songhua rises south of

Heaven Lake Heaven Lake (; Korean language, Korean: 천지) is a volcanic crater lake atop Paektu Mountain. It lies on the border between China and North Korea, and is roughly evenly divided between the two countries. The Chinese part is in Jilin, Ji ...

, near the

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 ...

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

border. From there it flows north, to be interrupted by the

Baishan Baishan ( zh, s=白山 , p=Báishān), is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Jilin province, in the Northeast China, Dongbei (northeastern) part of China. "" literally means "White Mountain", and is named after Changbai Mountain ( zh, s=长 ...

, Hongshi and Fengman

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

dams. The Fengman Dam forms a lake that stretches for . Below the dam, the Second Songhua flows north through

, then northwest until it is joined by its largest tributary, the

Nen River The Nen River or Nenjiang ( zh, c=, p=Nèn Jiāng, w=Nen-chiang), or Nonni () is a river in Northeast China. The Nen River flows through the northern part of Heilongjiang Province and the northeastern section of Inner Mongolia, some parts of the ...

, near Da'an, to create the Songhua proper. The Songhua turns east through

Harbin Harbin, ; zh, , s=哈尔滨, t=哈爾濱, p=Hā'ěrbīn; IPA: . is the capital of Heilongjiang, China. It is the largest city of Heilongjiang, as well as being the city with the second-largest urban area, urban population (after Shenyang, Lia ...

, and after the city, it is joined from the south by the

Ashi River The Ashi River is a right tributary of the Songhua in eastern Manchuria,. in Harbin's Acheng District in the People's Republic of China. Name The river has borne the name "Ashi" since the Qing (17th–20th century). Before that, it was known a ...

, and then by the Hulan River from the north. A new dam was constructed in 2007 near Bayan (50 km northeast of

), creating the Dadingshan Reservoir, which is named after the scenic area on the south bank (). The river flows onward through

Jiamusi Jiamusi (Manchu: ; formerly Kiamusze) is a prefecture-level city in eastern Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China. Located along the middle and lower reaches of the Songhua River, it faces Russia's Khabarovsk Krai across the Ussuri ...

and south of the Lesser Xing'an Range, to eventually join the Amur at

Tongjiang, Heilongjiang Tongjiang () is a city of 160,000 in eastern Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China, located at the confluence and on the right banks of the Songhua and Amur Rivers, the latter which marks the border with Russia. Administratively, it ...

. The river freezes from late November until March. It has its highest flows when the mountain snow melts during the spring thaw. The river is

navigable A body of water, such as a river, canal or lake, is navigable if it is deep, wide and calm enough for a water vessel (e.g. boats) to pass safely. Navigability is also referred to in the broader context of a body of water having sufficient under ...

up to Harbin by medium-sized ships. Smaller craft can navigate the Songhua up to

and the Nen River up to

Qiqihar Qiqihar (also spelled Tsitsihar) is the second-largest city in the Heilongjiang province of China, in the west central part of the province. The built-up (or metro) area made up of Longsha, Tiefeng and Jianhua districts had 959,787 inhabitants, w ...

. Cities along the river include: *

History

In November 2005, the river was contaminated with benzene, leading to a shutdown of Harbin's water supply. The spill stretched and eventually reached the Amur (Heilong) River on the

China–Russia border The Chinese–Russian border or the Sino-Russian border is the Border, international border between China and Russia. After the final demarcation carried out in the early 2000s, it measures ,

. On July 28, 2010, several thousand barrels from two chemical plants in China's Jilin City were washed away by

floods A flood is an overflow of water (list of non-water floods, or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant con ...

. Some of them contained of explosive material like trimethylsilyl chloride and

hexamethyldisiloxane Hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO or MM) is an organosilicon compound with the formula O i(CH3)3. This volatile colourless liquid is used as a solvent and as a reagent in organic synthesis. It is prepared by the hydrolysis of trimethylsilyl chlori ...

.Defence lines were opened in attempt to intercept the barrels with chemicals

RIA Novosti RIA Novosti (), sometimes referred to as RIAN () or RIA (), is a Russian state-owned domestic news agency. On 9 December 2013, by a decree of Vladimir Putin, it was liquidated and its assets and workforce were transferred to the newly created ...

, 30.07.2010 In 2016, the part near the city of Jilin was affected by a minor flood.

References

{{Authority control Rivers of Heilongjiang Rivers of Jilin Geography of Harbin Jilin City Geography of Yanbian

Geography

History

See also

References