Jinsha (fleuve)

The Jinsha River (, Tibetan: Dri Chu, འབྲི་ཆུ) or Lu river, 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 Tiger Leaping Gorge. It is sometimes grouped together with the Lancang (upper Mekong) and Nu (upper Salween) as the Sanjiang ("Three Rivers") area, part of which makes up the Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas. The river is important in generating hydroelectric power, and several of the world's largest hydroelectric power stations are on the Jinsha river. The river was first recorded as the Hei (黑水, Hēishuǐ, lit. "Blackwater") in the Warring States' "Tribute of Yu". It was described as the Sheng (t 繩水, s 绳水, Shéngshuǐ, "Rope River") in the Han-era Classic of Mountains and Seas. During the Three Kingdoms, it was known as the Lu (t 瀘水, s 泸水, Lúshuǐ). Owing to earlier romanization systems, the river has been known as the Chin-sha Chiang and Kinsha Kiang (when it was not simply described as the Yangtze) in English sources for the last three centuries. The most common present name, Jinsha is the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the same Chinese characters as the other two. Although the name is generally over-literally translated as the "Gold Sand" or "Golden-Sanded River", the name is not poetic or descriptive of the color of the river's banks. Rather, described actual placer gold, alluvial gold powder sometimes still panned from the river's waters. The name "Jinsha" originates in the Song dynasty when the river attracted large numbers of gold prospectors. Gold prospecting along the Jinsha continues to this day. The Jinsha culture in prehistoric China derives its name from a road near its type site and not from the river directly. The Jinsha River is simply the upper course of the Yangtze, although the Yalong and Min rivers were sometimes considered to have been the main course before the advent of modern geography. It is traditionally considered to begin at the confluence of the Tongtian and Batang rivers near Gyêgu in Qinghai.