Pearl River (China)

Coordinates: 22°46′N 113°38′E / 22.767°N 113.633°E / 22.767; 113.633

The Pearl River or Zhu Jiang (Chinese: 珠江; pinyin: Zhū Jiāng; Jyutping: zyu1 gong1, literally "Pearl River", pronounced [ʈʂú tɕjɑ́ŋ]; Portuguese: Rio das Pérolas) or less commonly, the Guangdong River or Canton River, (Chinese: 粤江), is an extensive river system in southern China. The name Pearl River is usually used as a catchment term to refer to the watersheds of the Xi River ("West River"), the Bei River ("North River"), and the Dong River ("East River"). These rivers are all considered tributaries of the Pearl River because they share a common delta, the Pearl River Delta. Measured from the farthest reaches of the Xi Jiang, the Pearl River system is China's third longest river, 2,400 kilometres (1,500 mi), after the Yangtze River and the Yellow River, and second largest by volume, after the Yangtze. The 409,480-square-kilometre (158,100 sq mi) Pearl River Basin (珠江流域) drains the majority of South Central, (Guangdong and Guangxi provinces), as well as parts of Southwest (Yunnan, Guizhou, Hunan and Jiangxi provinces) in China, and Northeast of Vietnam (Cao Bằng and Lạng Sơn).