Salween River
Upper Salween (China)

The Salween originates in the Tanggula Mountains in the central Tibetan Plateau. The headwaters are located near Dengka Peak, east of Tanggula Pass. The highest source is Jiangmeiergang Galou glacier, 5,432 m (17,822 ft) above sea level. The various headwater streams flow southwest through high mountain valleys and accumulate in Cona Lake, at 4,594 m (15,072 ft). Downstream of the lake, the Tibetan section of the river is called Gyalmo Nagqu, "black river". In Tibet the river flows mostly within Nagqu prefecture.

From Cona Lake, the river flows south and turns east near Nagqu Town, where the Chalong hydroelectric station is situated. Further east, the river is dammed at the smaller Jiquan hydroelectric station. As of 2017, these are the only two dams on the Salween River proper. Continuing east, it is joined by the Ka, Suo and Ga rivers, all flowing from the southern slope of the Tanggula Mountains. In Biru County, the river begins a series of turns south and southeast, passing through Nyingchi prefecture. Shortly before entering Yunnan, it is joined from the east by the Yu River, its longest tributary within China.

The Tibetan portion of the Salween basin is lightly populated, especially in the frigid headwater regions where precipitation is scarce and river flow depends almost entirely on glacier melt. The upper Salween basin includes more than 12,000 km (4,600 sq mi) of glaciers.

In Yunnan, the Salween is known as the Nujiang (Chinese: 怒江; pinyin: Nujiang) or Nu River, after the indigenous Nu people, but also translating literally to "angry river". (The character is only a homophone, due to Chinese having no phonetic script.) For more than 1,000 km (620 mi) the Salween runs parallel to, and west of the headwaters of the Mekong and Yangtze, separated by high mountain ridges of the Hengduan Mountains. The Gaoligong Mountains west of the Salween form the border between China and Burma. Between the Salween and Mekong rivers around the Tibet–Yunnan boundary are the Meili Xue Shan, which include Kawagarbo, the highest peak in the Salween basin at 6,740 m (22,110 ft).

Much of the river within Yunnan is part of the Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas, a World Heritage Site. Forming canyons up to 4,500 m (14,800 ft) deep, this section is often called the "Grand Canyon of the East".

Continuing south, the river crosses the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau via a series of deep canyons broken by wider valleys. In Longling County it is joined by the Kuke River and turns west, entering Burma. The total length of the river in China is 1,948 km (1,210 mi), not including a short 25 km (16 mi) segment along the China–Burma border. By the time it leaves China the Salween has descended more than 4,000 m (13,000 ft) from its source.
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