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River

Gan River

758 km from source to mouth · China.

ChinaChinaFlows into Poyang Lake

Follow the riverMonth by month

SourceMouthNanchangGanzhouJi’an
The river and every tributary in its basin, drawn from RiverATLAS (CC BY 4.0).

In numbers

Length

758km

Average flow

1,700m³/s

Basin

81,600km²

Drop

273m

from 281 m to 8 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

758 km of river and 11 stops on the way: 4 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

281 m8 m
Sourceat 281 m0 km
Ganzhou1,977,253 people151 km
Wan'an Reservoir68 km²241 km
Beijing-Kowloon Railway Ji'an Ganjiang Bridge348 km
Ji’an538,699 people355 km
Yuanshui Rivertributary490 km
Jianguang61,469 people525 km
Nanchang2,357,839 people588 km
Poyang Lakeat 8 m758 km
0200400600758 km
  1. 0 kmSourceat 281 m
  2. 68 kmShangyoujiang reservoir19 km²
  3. 151 kmGanzhou1,977,253 people
  4. 241 kmWan'an Reservoir68 km²
  5. 348 kmBeijing-Kowloon Railway Ji'an Ganjiang Bridge
  6. 355 kmJi’an538,699 people
  7. 490 kmYuanshui Rivertributary
  8. 525 kmJianguang61,469 people
  9. 584 kmChaoyang Bridge
  10. 588 kmNanchang2,357,839 people
  11. 590 kmBayi Bridge
  12. 728 kmPoyang Lake2,398 km²
  13. 758 kmPoyang Lakeat 8 m

Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.

River in Jiangxi, China

At the mouth it carries 1,667 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 1.5 seconds. It drops from 281 m to 8 m, 0.4 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 81,600 km², about the size of AE. 41.5 million people live in it. Highest water: June; lowest: from November to February. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (10% of a year's flow).

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • NanchangLargest city on its banks · 2,357,839 people
  • Nanchang Changbei International Airport (KHN)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 21 km from the city
  • On the water26 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • From October to NovemberThe best months to visit

Gan River, month by month

Highest water: June

Lowest water: from November to February. Best months to visit: from October to November.

2,200
7°49 mmJan
3,200
8°83 mmFeb
5,600
12°144 mmMar
8,700
18°183 mmApr
11,300
23°200 mmMay
13,200
26°223 mmJun
11,100
30°111 mmJul
8,900
29°130 mmAug
6,300
26°81 mmSep
3,700
20°63 mmOct
3,200
14°56 mmNov
2,300
9°40 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 2,200 m³/s in the lowest month to 13,200 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.

Plan the trip

Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

The basin

Gan River: the basin in numbers

162,424 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Heavily regulatedReservoirs can hold 10% of a year's flow: dams shape its seasons.
  • 41.5millionpeople live in the basin
  • 265/km²people per km²
  • 252maverage altitude of the basin
  • 1,575mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 17.7°Caverage air temperature
  • 8%protected areas
  • 2.4%covered by lakes
  • 19km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 54% Forest
  • 21% Cropland
  • 9% Pasture
  • 12% Towns and cities

RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.

Along the river

Gan River: what you find on the way

  • 45DamsWan'an Power Plant, Shihutang Power Plant, Xingan Power Plant and 42 more
  • 4Weirs
  • 12Locks
  • 1Waterfalls
  • 1Boat ramps
  • 16Ferry piers
  • 9Marinas
  • 2River beaches

From OpenStreetMap, within 2.5 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Gan River in our other atlases

What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.

  • 3lakes on its wayLakeyas

Lakes and reservoirs (3)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Shangyoujiang reservoirkm 6819km²
  2. Wan'an Reservoirkm 24068km²
  3. Poyang Lakekm 724 · 25 m deep2,398km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Gan River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Gan River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth55 km across

Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.

Photos

Gan River in pictures

2017-07-13 Gan River and Nanchang
Windmemories · CC BY-SA 4.0
Stir-fried yellow beef, Jiangxi cuisine
Sherbet · CC BY 2.5
White Sugar Sponge, Jiangxi cuisine
Sherbet · CC BY 2.5
Jiangxi Greenland Central Plaza 2018
Qa003qa003 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q1046685) · CC0
Course, profile, basinRiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata
FlowWaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Climate along the riverWorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Towns, bridges, damsWikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0
Along the river© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Our other atlasesLakeyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST

Every source and licence is on the data sources page.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit
lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit
mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit
waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit
islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit
riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit