The headwaters of the Yangtze, including the Ulan Moron ("Tuotuo He"), Dangqu, Buqu, and Garqu1975 DMA map of the region around the Ulan Moron ("T'o-t'o Ho")
The Ulan Moron (Mongolian: ᠤᠯᠠᠭᠠᠨᠮᠥᠷᠡᠨ, Ulaan Mörön, lit. "Red River"; Chinese: 乌兰木伦, p Wūlánmùlún), Mar Qu (Tibetan), or Tuotuo River (沱沱河,[a] p Tuótuó Hé, lit. "Tearful River";[1][b]Tibetan: ཐོག་ཐོག་ཆུ་, ZYPY: Togtog Qu) is a 336 km (209 mi) long river, located in Qinghaiprovince in the People's Republic of China.
The Ulan Moron begins as melt-off from the Geladandong glaciers and runs to a confluence with the Dangqu or Dam Chu River, where they form the Tongtian River, which subsequently becomes the Yangtze River. Although the Dangqu has been found to be the source of the Yangtze under the usual modern criteria, the Ulan Moron has been traditionally regarded as the main river and source. It belongs to the East China Sea watershed basin.
^In Chinese, the character河 originally described the Yellow River and 江 the Yangtze. In modern practice, a jiang is usually a longer river, while he varies from shorter rivers (as the Tuotuo) to creeks (such as Suzhou Creek in Shanghai).
^But note Mei Zuyan who claims the Chinese name merely transliterates a former Tibetan name.[2] Bolstering his point is the alternate Chinese spelling of the river's name as the 托托. In fact, if the name was originally a transliteration, it probably derives from a variant of the Mongolian Togtoh.[3]
References
^Powers, John & al. Historical Dictionary of Tibet, p. 155. Scarecrow Press (Plymouth), 2012. Accessed 14 August 2013.
^梅祖彦 [Mei Zuyan]. 《晚年随笔》 ["Old Age Essays"], p. 289. "The Changjiang Sanxia Hydro Power Development". 1997. Accessed 13 August 2013.
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