Ulan Moron

The Ulan Moron (Mongolian: ᠤᠯᠠᠭᠠᠨᠮᠥᠷᠡᠨ, Ulaan Mörön, lit. "Red River"; Chinese: 乌兰木伦, p Wūlánmùlún), Mar Qu (Tibetan), or Tuotuo River (沱沱河,^[a] p Tuótuó Hé, lit. "Tearful River";^[1][b] Tibetan: ཐོག་ཐོག་ཆུ་, ZYPY: Togtog Qu) is the second longest source of the Yangtze River after Dangqu River, with a total length of 361.4 km (224.6 mi) long, located in Qinghai province in the People's Republic of China.

Tuotuo River
The Ulan Moron or Tuotuo River
The headwaters of the Yangtze, including the Ulan Moron ("Tuotuo He"), Dangqu, Buqu, and Garqu.
Location
Country	China
Physical characteristics
Source	Tanggula Mountains
• location	Geladaindong Peak
• elevation	6,621 m (21,722 ft)
Mouth	Tongtian River to a confluence with Dangqu River.
Length	361.4 km (224.6 mi)
Basin size	16,840 km2 (6,500 sq mi)
Discharge
• average	924 m3/s (32,600 cu ft/s)

1975 DMA map of the region around the Ulan Moron ("T'o-t'o Ho")

The Ulan Moron begins as melt-off from the Geladandong glaciers and runs to a confluence with the Dangqu or Dam Chu River, where they form the Tongtian River, which subsequently becomes the Yangtze River. Although the Dangqu has been found to be the longest source of the Yangtze under the usual modern criteria, the Ulan Moron has been traditionally regarded as the main river and source. It belongs to the East China Sea watershed basin.

See also

• Yangtze River
• List of rivers in China

Notes

1. In Chinese, the character 河 originally described the Yellow River and 江 the Yangtze. In modern practice, a jiang is usually a longer river, while he varies from shorter rivers (as the Tuotuo) to creeks (such as Suzhou Creek in Shanghai).
2. But note Mei Zuyan who claims the Chinese name merely transliterates a former Tibetan name.^[2] Bolstering his point is the alternate Chinese spelling of the river's name as the 托托. In fact, if the name was originally a transliteration, it probably derives from a variant of the Mongolian Togtoh.^[3]