Shweli River
Shweli River at Jiegao, Ruili, China
Shweli river and tributary, with major towns in basin and hydroelectric power stations in China & Myanmar and the hydrological stations in China.
Native name
  • 瑞丽江 (Chinese)
  • ရွှေလီမြစ် (Burmese)
  • ၼမ်ႉမၢဝ်း (Shan)
  • ᥘᥛᥳ ᥛᥣᥝᥰ (Tai Nüa)
Location
CountryChina, Myanmar
Physical characteristics
Source 
 • locationGaoligong Mountains at Mingguang Town, Tengchong
 • elevation2,520 m (8,270 ft)
Mouth 
 • location
Ayeyarwady River by Inywa
 • coordinates
23°56′49″N 96°17′0″E / 23.94694°N 96.28333°E / 23.94694; 96.28333
 • elevation
89 m (292 ft)
Length630 km (390 mi)
Basin size22,908.3 km2 (8,844.9 sq mi)[1]
Discharge 
 • locationNear mouth
 • average1,020.2 m3/s (36,030 cu ft/s)[1]
Basin features
Tributaries 
 • leftMangshi River, Wanding River, Namba River
 • rightLuoboba River, Namwan River

Shweli River (Burmese: ရွှေလီမြစ်; Chinese: 瑞丽江) is a river in China and Myanmar (Burma). Also known as Nam Mao (Shan: ၼမ်ႉမၢဝ်း; Tai Nuea: ᥘᥛᥳ ᥛᥣᥝᥰ) in Shan or Dai, and Ruili River or Longchuan River (龙川江) in Chinese, it forms 26 km of the boundary between Burma and China.[2] It is one of the tributaries of the Myanmar's chief river, the Ayeyarwady, and arises in Yunnan Province of China. It flows through northern Shan state and Sagaing Division, and enters the Ayeyarwady at Inywa, 60 kilometres (37 mi) north of Tagaung and south of Katha.

History

Dai people, known as Shan in Burma, migrated from Yunnan into Burma along the Shweli.[3] Maw Shans from Mong Mao settled in the Shweli valley, and raided and invaded the Bamar heartlands down the Shweli, some people believe that King Anawrahta of Bagan (1044–1077) reduced Mong Mao to a vassal state. But the event is that when the Anawrahta visited Nanzhao in quest of the Buddha's tooth while returning, married Sao-Môn-la, a daughter of the Mong Mao king. But there is nothing to show that the Mong Mao king ever had to acknowledge the overlordship of the Pagan monarch.[4][5] The fall of the kingdom of Bagan in the 13th century, however, saw a resurgence of Shan power, although King Bayinnaung (1551–1581) of the Taungoo Dynasty succeeded in pacifying them to establish Burmese suzerainty once and for all.[3][6] King Hsinbyushin (1763–1776) of the Konbaung Dynasty also successfully resisted Chinese army in Sino-Burmese War (1765-9) that advanced down the Shweli and Myitnge river valleys.[6]

The territory south of the Shweli, about 500–600 square kilometres (190–230 sq mi), north of Namtu and from Namkham to the west, was under the control of the Communist Party of Burma (CPB) from 1968 to 1986. The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) controlled the area north of the Shweli, and the Shan State Army (SSA) and the Palaung State Liberation Army (PSLA) farther south. The Shweli river valley and the hills around Momeik (Mong Mit) and Mogok with its ruby mines had been old CPB strongholds since the 1950s. Momeik itself was captured by the Communists in 1977. The Burmese Army recaptured the territory in early 1987, and subsequently opened up border trade with China.[7]

Population

The region is inhabited mainly by Shan people, some Kachin and Palaung and a few Chinese.[7]

Flora and fauna

There are extensive marshes on both banks of the Shweli at the confluence with the Ayeyarwady. Hills are covered with broad-leaved species of Terminalia and Shorea trees. Rhododendron edgeworthii, of the finest foliage and flowers ranging in colour from white to white flushed pink or pink, sometimes with a yellow blotch, was part of a collection made in 1997 on the Shweli - Salween divide on the Yunnan border with Burma.[8]

White-winged wood duck (Cairina scutulata), an endangered species of forest duck, and the sarus crane (Grus antigone) are native to the Shweli river. The gharial (Gavialis gangeticus), a crocodilian, was last spotted in 1927.[9] The Irrawaddy dolphin has been known to reach the upper tributaries of the Ayeyarwady including the Shweli.[10]

Based on the survey in 2003 and 2006, a total of 49 species of fish were collected in Shweli river and tributaries in China. By the combination of the investigated species and specimens in the museum of Kunming Institute of Zoology, there are a total of 60 species belonging to 8 orders, 19 families, and 44 genera in Shweli river drainage, among which 16 species are endemic to Irrawaddy drainage and 9 species are alien species. On composition, the species of Cyprinidae are dominant, which have 26 species accounting for 43.3% of the total number of species. In the next place, Sisoridae has 11 species, accounting for 18.3% of the total.[11]

Towns

  1. Ruili (Shweli)
  2. Muse
  3. Namhkam
  4. Momeik
  5. Mabein

Trade and commerce

Muse is connected to Ruili on the Chinese side, and a roaring trade in goods and services was engaged in across the "Gun Bridge", so called because of the armaments transported from China to the military government of Burma.[12][13] The old bridge was replaced by a new wider one in 2005. Gems especially jade and produce, and illicit heroin, are exported in exchange for cheap motorcycles and household goods from China.[14]

More recently, Chinese hybrid rice called sinn shweli has been introduced by the military authorities to the local farmers as part of the opium eradication drive, most of the crop to be exported back to China.[15]

The Shweli I Dam was put into operation on the river in 2008. It is the first of three planned dams on the main stem in Myanmar.[16] The river upper in China has abundant hydropower reserves, there are 18 hydroelectric power stations has been built, mostly in Tengchong. And the biggest one in China is Longjiang Dam at Zhefang, Mangshi which operates in 2010.[17]

Notes

  1. 1 2 "Upper Irrawaddy".
  2. ↑ "International Boundary Study No. 42 – November 30, 1964: Burma – China Boundary" (PDF). Florida State University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 May 2007. Retrieved 24 October 2008.
  3. 1 2 Nisbet, John (2005). Burma Under British Rule and Before. Adamant Media Corporation, 2005. p. 416. ISBN 978-1-4021-5293-1. Retrieved 24 October 2008.
  4. ↑ Padmeswar Gogoi (1956). "The Political Expansion of the Mao Shans". Journal of the Siam Society. 44: 125-137. ISSN 0304-226X.
  5. ↑ Sao Saimong (1965). The Shan States and the British Annexation. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University. p. 47. ISBN 978-0877270577.
  6. 1 2 Harvey, G E (2000). History of Burma: From the Earliest Times to 10 March 1824. Asian Educational Services, 2000. pp. 165, 254. ISBN 978-81-206-1365-2. Retrieved 24 October 2008.
  7. 1 2 Lintner, Bertil (1990). The Rise and Fall of the Communist Party of Burma (CPB). SEAP Publications. pp. 79–80. ISBN 978-0-87727-123-9. Retrieved 31 January 2009.
  8. ↑ "Species Foundation Rhododendrons". The American Rhododendron Society, 1997-2002. Retrieved 24 October 2008.
  9. ↑ "Upper Irrawaddy and Mogawng Chaung". ARCBC (ASEAN Regional Centre for Biodiversity Conservation). Archived from the original on 12 October 2008. Retrieved 24 October 2008.
  10. ↑ "Orcaella brevirostris". ICUN Red List. Retrieved 24 October 2008.
  11. ↑ JIANG Wan-sheng; DU Li-na; JIANG Yan-e; YANG Jun-xing; CHEN Xiao-yong (2010). "瑞丽江流域鱼类组成、区系及生活史特点研究" [Fish Composition，Fauna and Life History of Ruili River Drainage]. 水生态学杂志 [Journal of Hydroecology] (in Chinese). 31 (5): 1-9. doi:10.15928/j.1674-3075.2010.05.001.
  12. ↑ "Burma Road". National Geographic, July 1995. Retrieved 25 October 2008.
  13. ↑ Mansfield, Stephen. "Myanmar's Chinese Connection". The Japan Times, 13 May 1999. Retrieved 25 October 2008.
  14. ↑ Fullbrook, David. "Inland China's route to prosperity". Asia Times 30 Sep 2006. Archived from the original on 19 October 2006. Retrieved 25 October 2008.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  15. ↑ McCoy, Clifford. "Seedlings of evil growing in Myanmar". Asia Times 23 August 2007. Archived from the original on 17 May 2008. Retrieved 25 October 2008.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  16. ↑ "Myanmar Shweli River power plant put into operation the first unit". China Water Science and Technology Network. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 11 March 2014.
  17. ↑ 曾滨 (22 July 2010). "西部大开发大型水利枢纽工程——龙江电站首台机组并网发电". 云南日报 [Yunnan Daily].
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