Mao Faxin
The source of the Qiantang River, the greatest river in Zhejiang Province, has long since been a much debated guestion and opinions vary with each other, unable to reach an anthoritative conclusion.The identification of the source of a river is of great significance in scientific ralue and economic construction. The length, flow, and catchment area of a river, the pattern of the Tributaries, the historical tradition, the geological structure and morphology of the valleys, and the terrain of the sourcethese are elements usually tallen as foundations to identify the source of a river, though no unified criteria have been established ai. present, either domestically or internationally. The author holds that, in applying these criteria, synthetic analysis should be made so as to abstract from among all elements the major ones, of which length and flow should be taken as important criteria, the former being the primary.The Qiantang River has in its.upper reaches two major sources, the Sing'an River to the North and the Lan River to the South.The Exploratory Team of the Source and Estuary of the Qiantang River, organized by the Scientific and Technical Association of Zhejiang Province, through on.the spot investigation, accurate survey and computation, and scientific analysis and comparison, has identified, as the genuine source of the Qiantang the Sing'an River, which rises from Lugujian, Xiu ming County, Anhui province, and as its stuary the line linkuig Ganpu, Haiyan County, and Xisanzha on the border of Yiiyao and Cixi Counties the opposite shore.The reidentification of the source and estuary of the Qiantang results in an prolongation of the length of the river from 405 to 695km, and an extension of the area of its basin from 11,90 to 43, 887 square km. The cao'e River being identified as a fribatary included in the Qiantang drainage system, the old statement of the eight drainage systems of Zhejiang should be revised as seven.