The Yangtze River does not belong to any province or city. It crosses Chongqing and Hubei provinces and cities. It flows into the East China Sea east of Chongming Island. It is 6,387 kilometers long and ranks third in the world among the world's great rivers, second only to the Nile River in Africa and the Amazon River in South America.

The Yangtze River was formed in ancient times, and most of the Yangtze River basin was submerged by sea water. In the Triassic period 200 million years ago, the Yangtze River basin was still occupied by the ancient Mediterranean Sea (i.e., the Tethys Sea). At that time, Tibet, part of Qinghai, western and central Yunnan, and western Guizhou were all vast seas.

The source of the Yangtze River is a wide geographical unit, which includes the vast area between Kunlun Mountain and Tanggula Mountain, about 400 kilometers long from east to west and about 300 kilometers wide from north to south, with a total area of ​​more than 100,000 square kilometers. The terrain in the area is gently undulating, with an average altitude of 4,400-4,700 meters, an average annual temperature below -4°C, low temperatures, sparse vegetation, widespread perennial frozen ground, and simple animal species, mostly species unique to the plateau, including wild donkeys, white-lipped deer, wild yaks, snow leopards, Tibetan antelopes, brown bears, wolves, blue sheep, etc.