Yalu River

Yalu River
Originally uploaded by XM&&LL

The Yalu River (Chinese) or the Amnok River (Korean), is a river on the border between China and North Korea. The Chinese name comes from a Manchu word meaning “the boundary between two fields”. The Korean name is the Korean pronunciation of the same Chinese characters.

From 2,500 m above sea level on Baekdu Mountain (Changbai Mountain), in the Changbai Mountains mountain range, on the China-North Korea border, the river flows south to Hyesan before sweeping 130 km northwest to Linjiang and then returning to a more southerly route for a further 300 km to empty into the Korea Bay between Dandong (China) and Sinŭiju (North Korea).

The bordering Chinese provinces are Jilin and Liaoning.

The river is 790 km (491 mi) long and receives the water from over 30,000 km² of land. The Yalu’s most significant tributaries are the Changjin (장진강; 長津江 or 长津江), Herchun (허천강;虚川江) and Tokro rivers. The river is not easily navigable for most of its length: although at its widest it is around 5 km, the depth is no greater than 3 m and much of the river is heavily silted.