Min River (Fujian)

This article is about the river in Fujian. For the other Min River (岷江), see Min River (Sichuan).

The Min River^[1] (Chinese: Mǐn Jiāng)^{[note 1]} is a 505-kilometre-long (314 mi) river in Fujian province, People's Republic of China.^[2] It is the largest river in Fujian, and an important water transport channel. Most of northern and central Fujian is within its drainage area.

Min River
Native name	閩江 (Chinese) 闽江 (Chinese) Mǐn Jiāng (Chinese)
Location
Country	China
Province	Fujian
Physical characteristics
Source	Futun
• location	Shaowu, Fujian
• coordinates	27°07′41″N 117°05′24″E
• elevation	631 m (2,070 ft)
2nd source	Shaxi
• location	Sanming, Fujian
• coordinates	26°18′29″N 116°26′53″E
• elevation	557 m (1,827 ft)
Source confluence
• location	Nanping, Fujian
• coordinates	26°34′41″N 118°01′55″E
• elevation	77 m (253 ft)
Mouth	Taiwan Strait
• location	Fuzhou, Fujian
• coordinates	26°04′34″N 119°31′19″E
• elevation	0 m (0 ft)
Length	505 km (314 mi)
Basin size	60,922 km2 (23,522 sq mi)
Discharge
• average	1,980 m3/s (70,000 cu ft/s)
Basin features
Tributaries
• left	Renshou, Jianxi and tributaries
• right	Xixi, Jinxi, Shaxi, Youxi, Dazhang

Min River
Traditional Chinese	閩江
Simplified Chinese	闽江
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Mǐn jiāng IPA [mìn tɕjáŋ] Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Man5 gong1 IPA [mɐn˩˧ kɔŋ˥] Southern Min Hokkien POJ Bân kang

Min River (闽江）in Nanping (南平). Railway bridge (闽江铁路大桥) at the back.

The provincial capital, Fuzhou (Foochow), sits on the lower Min River, with its historic center being on the northern side of the river. Fuzhou's suburb Changle is on the other side of the river, even closer to its fall into the Taiwan Strait; the location historically made it an important port.

Alternate sources

The traditional source of the Min River is in the far northwest of the basin, hence in China the highest reach is called the Beixi Brook. The total length of the river using this source is 505km. But in fact, the Beixi is neither the geographic or hydrological source of the river. The Shuiqian is the furthest geographic source, and the Shuiqian-Shaxi-Min is 580km long. A different river, the Jinxi, is larger than the Beixi-Futun at the point where the two meet, and consequently is connected to the hydrological source.

See also

• List of rivers in China
• Department of water resource of Fujian

Notes

1. simplified Chinese: 闽江; traditional Chinese: 閩江; pinyin: Mǐn Jiāng; Foochow Romanized: Mìng-gĕ̤ng; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Bân-kang; Kienning Colloquial Romanized: Ma̿ing-gó̤ng