HUNG-SHUI RIVER

Wade-Giles romanization Hung-shui Ho, Pinyin Hongshui He, river in Kweichow province and in Kwangsi Chuang Autonomous Region, southern China. It is one of the principal tributaries of the Hsi (West) River, which forms its delta at Canton. The Hung-shui River rises in the Wu-meng Mountains in western Kweichow. Its upper course is named the Lai-mou River. It flows southeast and is joined by the Hsi-sa River near Pan-chiang-ch'iao. Below this point it is known as the Pei-p'an River. Near Wang-mo it swings east and forms the Kweichow-Kwangsi border for some 50 miles (80 km) until, at T'ien-o, it again turns southeast and, under the name Hung-shui, flows across northwestern Kwangsi, joining the main stream of the Y River at Kuei-p'ing after a course of 215 miles (345 km). The Hung-shui River and its tributaries together drain almost all of southwestern Kweichow and northwestern Kwangsi. Its chief tributary is the Liu River, which joins it shortly below Lai-pin (Laiping). The section below Lai-pin and the Liu River as far as Liu-chou are navigable by shallow-draft junks. The upper stream of the Hung-shui River, however, is so impeded by rapids and deep gorges as to be virtually unnavigable. Its valley and those of its tributaries, nevertheless, provide the principal routes into Kweichow from the south.