Yarlung Tsangpo

The Yarlung Tsangpo, also called Yarlung Zangbo (Tibetan: ཡར་ཀླུངས་གཙང་པོ་, Wylie: yar kLungs gTsang po, ZWPY: Yarlung Zangbo) and Yalu Zangbu River (Chinese: 雅鲁藏布江; pinyin: Yǎlǔzàngbù Jiāng), is the upper part of the Brahmaputra River. It flows through the Tibet Autonomous Region of China and Arunachal Pradesh state of India. It is the longest river in Tibet and the fifth longest in China. The upper part is also called Dangque Zangbu, meaning "Horse River".

It starts from the Angsi Glacier in western Tibet, near Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar. The river then forms the South Tibet Valley. When it leaves the Tibetan Plateau, it creates the world's largest and deepest canyon, the Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon. After entering Arunachal Pradesh, it becomes wider and is called the Siang. When it reaches Assam, the river is known as the Brahmaputra.

Description

The Yarlung Tsangpo River is the highest major river in the world. Its longest tributary is the Nyang River. Major tributaries include the Nyangchu River, Lhasa River, Nyang River, and Parlung Tsangpo.

In Tibet, the river flows through the South Tibet Valley, which is about 1,200 kilometres long and 300 kilometres wide. The valley starts at 4,500 metres above sea level and drops to 3,000 metres. As it goes down, the plants change from cold desert to dry steppe, then to scrub vegetation, and finally to conifer and rhododendron forests. The tree line is around 3,200 metres. Near Lhasa, rocks contain minerals that show changes in the Earth's magnetic field.

The Yarlung River basin, surrounded by the Himalayas to the south and the Kang Rinpoche and Nyenchen Tanglha Mountains to the north, has a milder climate than nearby higher areas. Most people in the Tibetan Autonomous Region live here.

The Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon, formed by a sharp bend where the river leaves the Tibetan Plateau and flows around Namcha Barwa, is the deepest and possibly longest canyon in the world.

The Yarlung Tsangpo River has three major waterfalls. The largest, called "Hidden Falls," became known in the West in 1998. Stories about these falls had been shared by Tibetan hunters and Buddhist monks with early westerners, but Western explorers had not found them until then. Chinese geographers said they had already seen the falls from a helicopter in 1987.

Kayak exploration

Since the 1990s, the Yarlung Tsangpo River has drawn many teams for exploration and whitewater kayaking. The river is known for its very tough conditions. In October 1998, a kayaking trip supported by the National Geographic Society tried to go through the Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon. The trip had to stop because the water level was too high.

In early 2002, a group of people from many countries finished the first trip through the upper part of the Tsangpo gorge.

Dams and hydropower projects

Further information: List of dams on the Brahmaputra River

In November 2020, a leader from PowerChina said they would start building a very big electricity project on the Yarlung Tsangpo River. This would be the largest project in the world.

In December 2024, China allowed building the Medog Hydropower Station on the Yarlung Tsangpo. When finished, it would be the biggest dam of its kind in the world. Building started on July 19, 2025. India and Bangladesh worry about how the dam will affect their countries after it starts working. This is expected after 2030.