CHIU-LUNG RIVER

Wade-Giles romanization Chiu-lung Chiang, Pinyin Jiulong Jiang river in southeastern Fukien province, China. The Chiu-lung River rises in the mountains northwest of Chang-chou, draining a large interior basin above Chang-p'ing. The Hsin-ch'iao River and the Yen-shih River and their tributaries drain the northeast and the southwest of this basin, respectively. The river then breaks through the coastal ranges in a generally southeasterly direction, parallel to the Po-p'ing Mountains, running northwest-southeast; the range forms the watershed between the Chiu-lung and the upper waters of the Han River. The Chiu-lung River discharges into the Amoy estuary, receiving just above its mouth its largest southern tributary, the Hsi River. The river itself is too swift and dangerous for navigation in its upper reaches, and junks and steamboats can use the estuary only as far as Lung-hai (Shih-ma), and the Hsi River as far as Chang-chou, which was once an important seaport until the estuary silted up. Although the river is unnavigable, the Chiu-lung valley is an important route from Amoy to the interior, and since 1957 it has been followed by a railway and a highway.