The Pudu River () is a major river in

Yunnan Province Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the C ...

in southwest

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. The source of Pudu River is located in

Songming County Songming County () is a County (People's Republic of China), county under the jurisdiction of Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province, China. It is famous for the Yanglin Fat Liquor and the Dian Opera. Administrative divisions Songming County is ...

; the headwater stream is called Muyang River (). The river runs southwards through

Kunming Kunming (; ), also known as Yunnan-Fu, is the capital and largest city of Yunnan province, China. It is the political, economic, communications and cultural centre of the province as well as the seat of the provincial government. The headquar ...

and then it is called the Panlong River; it flows into

Dian Lake Dianchi Lake (), also known as Lake Dian and Kunming Lake (), is a large lake located on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau close to Kunming, Yunnan, China. Its nickname is the "Sparkling Pearl Embedded in a Highland" () and it was the model for the Ku ...

at the south of Kunming.

Geography

The river leaves

near

Haikou Subdistrict Haikou (; ), also spelled as Hoikow is the capital and most populous city of the Chinese province of Hainan. Haikou city is situated on the northern coast of Hainan, by the mouth of the Nandu River. The northern part of the city is on the Ha ...

(formerly, Haikou Town) ( 海口街道) of Xishan District, in the southwestern part of the lake. The outlet of the lake is called Tanglang Creek () or Tanglang River (). The river runs northward through Anning City and Fumin County; from there on, it is called Pudu River. It joins

Jinsha River The Jinsha River (, Tibetan: Dri Chu, འབྲི་ཆུ) is the Chinese name for the upper stretches of the Yangtze River. It flows through the provinces of Qinghai, Sichuan, and Yunnan in western China. The river passes through T ...

in the northeastern part of Luquan Yi and Miao Autonomous County. The river is about 363.6 kilometres long.

Name

The name Pudu (普渡) is a slogan from Buddhism Classics, literally "helping people get out of sorrows and troubles". Some people also believe that "Pudu" here actually refers to "a ferry ran by Pu's family". In Chinese, the name of the Pudu River is written with the same

Chinese characters Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as '' kan ...

as the Chinese name of

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and ...

, but this is just a coincidence.

Notes

Tributaries of the Yangtze River Rivers of Yunnan Geography of Kunming {{China-river-stub