FU-CH'UN RIVER

Chinese (Wade-Giles) Fu-ch'un Chiang, or (Pinyin) Fuchun Jiang, river flowing through Chekiang province, China. The lower course and estuary discharging at Hang-chou into Hang-chou Bay are called the Ch'ien-t'ang River. Above Hang-chou, as far as T'ung-lu, it is called the Fu-ch'un River, and the section above T'ung-lu is known as the T'ung River. Near Chien-te the main river is formed by the junction of two separate river systems. The westerly system is the Hsin-an River, which flows from southern Anhwei province, where it rises in the Huang Mountains near She-hsien. This tributary flows through deep, gorgelike valleys in the rugged, hilly country of the Anhwei-Chekiang border. In the late 1950s this river was dammed above Chien-te to establish the Hsin-an River dam and hydroelectric project, forming a large lake. The southern and eastern sections of the system are drained by the Lan River. At Lanhsi this is formed by the junction of two rivers, the Chin-hua River system, flowing from central Chekiang to the east, and the Ch'u River, which drains the mountains of the Chekiang-Kiangsi and Chekiang-Fukien border areas. The Fu-ch'un River system provides the major routes from the Hang-chou and Shanghai area into inland Chekiang, northern Fukien, and Kiangsi, and it was the route by which Southeast China was largely colonized. The rivers themselves, however, are of limited use for navigation. Small steamers can travel as far as T'ung-lu, while river junks can reach Ch'ang-shan (on the Ch'u River) and Chin-hua (on the Chin-hua River). The role of the river has been greatly reduced since the construction of railways in the region. The mouth of the Fu-ch'un River is famous for its tidal bore, sometimes as much as 20 feet (6 m) high, caused by tidal action in the funnel-shaped Hang-chou Bay. The length of the Fu-ch'un River is estimated to be 239 miles (385 km), and its drainage area is estimated at 16,456 square miles (42,621 square km).