WESTERN CHINA 9 



The Min (Fu) River proper, save at lowest water, is navigable 

 from Kuan Hsien and Chengtu downwards. The Chengtu 

 branch is artificially formed by canals led across the plain from 

 Kuan Hsien, and unites with the Kuan Hsien stream and its 

 tributaries at Chiangkou. A tributary of the Min, which joins 

 at Hsinhsin Hsien, is navigable in high water for small boats to 

 Kiung Chou, a city situated at the extreme south-west corner 

 of the Chengtu Plain, 



The Min (Fu) River rises some 35 miles north of the Sungpan 

 Ting, near the boundary of north-west Szechuan and the Amdo 

 region in lat. 33° N. (approx.). Immediately to the south 

 of Sungpan city it plunges into wild, mountainous country, 

 flowing through a gorge from which it emerges only a few miles 

 north of Kuan Hsien, where it becomes navigable for rafts only. 



At Kuan Hsien a famous and gigantic irrigation system is 

 in operation, but of this we shall deal in due place. 



The Min is really only a tributary of the Tung River, which it 

 joins at Kiating Fu, but since it admits of navigation it is of 

 more practical importance, and for this cause the Chinese give 

 it pre-eminence. The Tung River is only navigable for a few 

 miles above Kiating, though rafts descend from a much higher 

 point west. Its tributary the Ya, which joins it immediately 

 west of Kiating, is of greater commercial importance, and a very 

 considerable raft traffic ascends and descends this stream from 

 Yachou, which is the centre of the brick- tea industry of western 

 Szechuan. 



The Tung River is really one of the longest rivers in Sze- 

 chuan, having its source in the north-eastern corner of Thibet, 

 about lat. 33° 40' N. It flows through the western frontier 

 of the tribes country, where it is known as the Tachin Ho 

 (Great Gold River), and ultimately strikes the highway from 

 Chengtu to Lhassa at Wassu-kou, a hamlet 18 miles east of 

 Tachienlu. From this point to its union with the Min at 

 Kiating it is called the Tung Ho, though around Fulin it goes 

 by the name of Tatu Ho. Owing to its unnavigability its 

 commercial importance is small, but this does not excuse the 

 geographer's scant appreciation of it in the past, even if it 

 explains the Chinese view. 



Considerably west of Pingshan Hsien the Yangtsze is 



