China has two major navigable rivers, the Yangtze River and the Yellow River.
The Yangtze River Valley has a population of 440 million (Basics of Yangtze
River Valley and its position in China economic developments. 2004) and GDP of
RMB 6987 billion (Yangtze River Valley’s economy took an upstanding start and
grew stably in 2010). (The approximate conversion rate between Chinese RMB
and US dollar since March 2011 is 6.5635.) Population is about 107 million in the
Yellow River Valley, where the GDP is around RMB 484 billion. Most regions in
these two valleys are undeveloped. If China wants to develop the economies there,
the importance of the inland waterway navigation system must be recognized. That
is because the status of railway and truck transportation is still primitive, and
cannot be improved in a relatively short time