The Qiantang River (simplified Chinese: 钱塘江; traditional Chinese: 錢塘江; pinyin: Qiántáng Jiāng, also known as the Qian River) is a southeast Chinese river that originates in the borders of Anhui and Jiangxi provinces. An important commercial artery, it runs for 459 km (285 miles) through Zhejiang province, passing through the provincial capital Hangzhou, before flowing into the East China Sea through Hangzhou Bay. Above Hangzhou, as far as Tonglu, it is known as the Fuchun River (富春).
The river is also the southern terminal of the ancient Grand Canal that links five major rivers in China from north to south, and enables water-borne traffic to travel inland from Hangzhou as far north as Beijing.
The Qiantang was previously known as the Zhe River (Zhejiang: 折江，means "crooked river"), Luocha River, or Zhi River. It was renamed "Qiantang" (literally "Qian's pond") in honour of the kings of Wuyue (907-978), whose extensive hydro-engineering schemes in large part ensured the prosperity of the region in later centuries.
When it was built in the 1930s, the First Qiantang River Bridge in Hangzhou was the first steel bridge to span a major river in China.
Read more about Qiantang River: Tidal Bore, Tributaries
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