The Yangtze River is known in China as the Cháng Jiang (literally: "Long River") and is the longest river in Asia and the third-longest in the world. The river is the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It drains one-fifth of the land area of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and its river basin is home to one-third of the country's population.

The Yangtze River plays a large role in the history, culture and economy of China. The prosperous Yangtze River Delta generates as much as 20% of the PRC's GDP. The Yangtze River flows through a wide array of ecosystems and is habitat to several endemic and endangered species including the Chinese alligator, the finless porpoise, the Chinese paddlefish, the (possibly extinct) Yangtze River dolphin or baiji, and the Yangtze sturgeon. For thousands of years, the river has been used for water, irrigation, sanitation, transportation, industry, boundary-marking and war. The Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River is the largest hydro-electric power station in the world

More than 60 vessels operate cruises along the Yangtze, the world’s third-longest river, which stretches 6,300 km (3,900 miles) from Shanghai through China’s heartland. The most popular cover the area known as the Three River Gorges, a 160-km (100-mile) stretch between Nanjin Pass in the east and White King City in the west. Journeys are timed to show the gorges at their best – in daylight

Travellers likely to visit China only once may wish to combine a river cruise with must-see sights such as the Great Wall (at Beijing), the haunting karst landscape of Guilin, cosmopolitan Shanghai and the terracotta warriors and the First Emperor of China’s tomb at Xian. All can be neatly packaged