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River

Wu River

1,150 km from source to mouth · China.

ChinaChinaFlows into Yangtze River

Follow the riverMonth by month

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

In numbers

Length

1,150km

Average flow

1,800m³/s

Basin

80,200km²

Drop

1,857m

from 1,991 m to 134 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

1,150 km of river and 34 stops on the way: 13 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

1,991 m134 m
Sourceat 1,991 m0 km
Liuchong Rivertributary300 km
Wujiangdu reservoir32 km²432 km
Xiang Rivertributary495 km
Deyu Expressway Wu River Bridge648 km
Gongtan17,248 people891 km
Hanjia108,430 people949 km
Yangtze Riverat 134 m1,150 km
02505007501,0001,150 km
  1. 0 kmSourceat 1,991 m
  2. 299 kmNajiehe Railway Bridge
  3. 300 kmLiuchong Rivertributary
  4. 306 kmYachi River Bridge
  5. 330 kmYachi Railway Bridge
  6. 355 kmLiuguanghe Bridge
  7. 371 kmLiuguanghe Xiqian Expressway Bridge
  8. 432 kmWujiangdu reservoir32 km²
  9. 434 kmWujiang Viaduct
  10. 436 kmZunyi Bridge
  11. 443 kmpipeline bridge between Zunyi and Guiyang
  12. 495 kmXiang Rivertributary
  13. 517 kmQingshuihe Rivertributary
  14. 545 kmJiangjiehe Bridge
  15. 545 kmJiangjiehe Railway Bridge
  16. 573 kmWujiang Bridge Yuqing
  17. 648 kmDeyu Expressway Wu River Bridge
  18. 835 kmWanmu15,220 people
  19. 891 kmGongtan17,248 people
  20. 923 kmLujiao9,519 people
  21. 941 kmWujiang Bridge Mozhai
  22. 949 kmHanjia108,430 people
  23. 955 kmYu Rivertributary
  24. 968 kmGaogu15,522 people
  25. 1,003 kmJiangkou20,829 people
  26. 1,020 kmWulong78,225 people
  27. 1,032 kmTukan8,128 people
  28. 1,041 kmYangjiao14,659 people
  29. 1,049 kmBaima25,629 people
  30. 1,070 kmBaitao46,160 people
  31. 1,093 kmCategory:Lizhi Wujiang Bridge
  32. 1,096 kmFuling Arch Bridge
  33. 1,099 kmLizhi156,753 people
  34. 1,099 kmFuling268,658 people
  35. 1,099 kmFuling Wujiang Bridge
  36. 1,150 kmYangtze Riverat 134 m

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

Tributary of the Yangtze in China

At the mouth it carries 1,800 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 1.4 seconds. It drops from 1,991 m to 134 m, 1.6 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 80,200 km², about the size of CZ. 21.0 million people live in it. Highest water: from June to July; lowest: from December to March. Its dams hold back little of its water (9.0% of a year's flow).

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • FulingLargest city on its banks · 268,658 people
  • Chongqing Xiannüshan Airport (CQW)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 40 km from the city
  • On the water16 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • From March to April and from September to NovemberThe best months to visit

Wu River, month by month

Highest water: from June to July

Lowest water: from December to March. Best months to visit: from March to April and from September to November.

690
5°21 mmJan
540
6°22 mmFeb
640
11°42 mmMar
1,200
16°102 mmApr
2,300
20°171 mmMay
3,300
23°192 mmJun
3,400
26°164 mmJul
3,000
25°140 mmAug
2,500
22°114 mmSep
2,200
16°100 mmOct
1,700
12°53 mmNov
1,100
7°24 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 540 m³/s in the lowest month to 3,400 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

Car hire in ChinaDiscover CarsSee 

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

Wu River: the basin in numbers

86,799 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Lightly regulatedReservoirs can hold 9.0% of a year's flow.
  • 21.0millionpeople live in the basin
  • 242/km²people per km²
  • 1,130maverage altitude of the basin
  • 1,203mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 14.6°Caverage air temperature
  • 8%protected areas
  • 0.2%covered by lakes
  • 4.8km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 41% Forest
  • 28% Cropland
  • 54% Pasture
  • 6% 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

Wu River: what you find on the way

  • 18DamsHongjiadu Dam, Dongfeng Dam, Suofengying Dam and 15 more
  • 5Locks
  • 2Boat ramps
  • 9Ferry piersZhongzui Ferry Terminal and 8 more
  • 5Marinas

From OpenStreetMap, within 2.4 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Wu 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.

  • 1lake on its wayLakeyas

Lakes and reservoirs (1)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Wujiangdu reservoirkm 37432km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Wu River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Wu River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth40 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

Wu River in pictures

Wujiang changjiang converge
Iamduyang · CC BY-SA 4.0
Fuling Yangtze Bridge, Chongqing. Fuling
Maximovich Nikolay · CC BY 3.0
02 ChangJiang 07 GhostTownToChongQing 2011 06 18 006
Yongbing Wan · CC BY-SA 3.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

It flows into

Yangtze RiverChinaChina6,300 km31,900 m³/s

Tributaries (8)

Also: Liuchong River, Qingshuihe River, Xiang River, Yu River, Furong River, Yinjiang He, Daxi He, Hongdu He

In the same basin

Han RiverChinaChina1,532 km2,200 m³/sHuai RiverChinaChina1,110 km1,200 m³/sYalong RiverChinaChina1,323 km2,000 m³/sGan RiverChinaChina758 km1,700 m³/sJialing RiverChinaChina1,119 km2,100 m³/sXiang RiverChinaChina801 km6,400 m³/sMin RiverChinaChina711 km2,300 m³/sYuan RiverChinaChina993 km2,000 m³/sDadu RiverChinaChina642 km1,400 m³/sJinsha RiverChinaChina3,005 km4,500 m³/s

Nearby

Rivers nearby

Jialing RiverChinaChina1,119 km2,100 m³/s81 km awayTuo RiverChinaChina655 km460 m³/s210 km awayMin RiverChinaChina711 km2,300 m³/s288 km awayJinsha RiverChinaChina3,005 km4,500 m³/s288 km awayDadu RiverChinaChina642 km1,400 m³/s352 km awayYuan RiverChinaChina993 km2,000 m³/s457 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q1515792) · CC0
Course, profile, basinRiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed along the river network from the point 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