A ranking of China's ten longest rivers measured by the length of their main stem inside China. It covers the Yangtze and Yellow River, which run entirely within the country, the Heilongjiang border river, the Chinese headwaters of the Mekong, Salween and Brahmaputra, and the Tarim, China's longest endorheic river. Sections outside China are excluded from the ranking figure.
The Yangtze and the Yellow River together run 11,764 km, about 40 percent of the 29,418 km covered by all ten rivers on this list. Four of the ten are not China's alone: the Heilongjiang forms the border with Russia, while the Lancang, Nu and Yarlung Tsangpo leave the country as the Mekong, the Salween and the Brahmaputra, feeding hundreds of millions of people across Southeast and South Asia. Fifth-placed Tarim is the outlier, running 2,179 km eastward without ever reaching the sea before it dissipates at the edge of the Taklamakan Desert.
| Rank | River | Main-stem length in China (km) | Main provinces and regions | Final outlet | Cross-border and measurement notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yangtze River | 6300 | Qinghai, Tibet, Sichuan, Yunnan, Chongqing, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui, Jiangsu, Shanghai | East China Sea | Entirely within China; the world's third-longest river after the Nile and the Amazon. Some surveys give 6,397 km |
| 2 |
Yellow River |
5464 |
| Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Shandong |
| Bohai Sea |
| Entirely within China; carries the highest sediment load of any major river and is regarded as the cradle of Chinese civilisation |
| 3 | Heilongjiang (Amur) | 3420 | Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang | Strait of Tartary, via the Russian Far East | Forms the China–Russia border; about 4,370 km in total from the Argun headwaters, and known as the Amur in Russia |
| 4 | Pearl River | 2320 | Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Guangdong | South China Sea | Main stem entirely within China, traced along the Nanpan–Hongshui–Qian–Xun–Xi river chain; the Xi River alone measures 2,214 km, and a small part of the basin extends into northern Vietnam |
| 5 | Tarim River | 2179 | Xinjiang | Taitema Lake (endorheic, never reaches the sea) | China's longest endorheic river, measured from the Yarkand headwaters; the main stem itself runs about 1,321 km along the northern rim of the Taklamakan Desert |
| 6 | Lancang River | 2161 | Qinghai, Tibet, Yunnan | South China Sea, via the Mekong | Becomes the Mekong after leaving China, flowing through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam over a total course of about 4,880 km |
| 7 | Yarlung Tsangpo | 2057 | Tibet | Bay of Bengal, via the Brahmaputra | Averages over 4,000 m in elevation, making it the world's highest major river; it becomes the Brahmaputra in India and joins the Ganges system in Bangladesh |
| 8 | Nu River | 2013 | Tibet, Yunnan | Andaman Sea, via the Salween | Known as the Salween outside China, running along the Myanmar–Thailand border over a total course of about 3,240 km; its Chinese section forms part of the Three Parallel Rivers World Heritage Site |
| 9 | Songhua River | 1927 | Inner Mongolia, Jilin, Heilongjiang | Joins the Heilongjiang (Amur) | The largest tributary of the Amur, measured from its northern Nen River source; the Second Songhua is its southern branch, and its basin covers the core of the Northeast China Plain |
| 10 | Han River | 1577 | Shaanxi, Hubei | Joins the Yangtze at Wuhan | The Yangtze's largest tributary; its Danjiangkou Reservoir is the source for the central route of the South–North Water Transfer Project |
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Yangtze River, retrieved 2026-08-04.
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