Red River (Asia)

Red River Hong River
Red River in Yuanyang County/Gejiu City, Yunnan
Red River and its tributaries.
Location
Country	China, Vietnam
Provinces	Yunnan Province (China), Lào Cai province, Yên Bái province, Phú Thọ province, Hanoi, Vĩnh Phúc province, Hưng Yên province, Hà Nam province, Thái Bình province, Nam Định province
Physical characteristics
Source
• location	Hengduan Mountains, Weishan, Dali, Yunnan, China
• elevation	1,776 m (5,827 ft)
2nd source
• location	TBD, Xiangyun, Dali, Yunnan, China
Mouth	Ba Lạt
• location	(boundary between Tiền Hải and Giao Thủy)
• coordinates	20°14′43″N 106°35′20″E / 20.24528°N 106.58889°E / 20.24528; 106.58889
• elevation	0 m (0 ft)
Length	1,149 km (714 mi)
Basin size	143,600 km2 (55,400 sq mi)[1] 169,000 km2 (65,000 sq mi)[1]
Discharge
• location	Red River Delta, Gulf of Tonkin, Vietnam
• average	4,300 m3/s (150,000 cu ft/s)[1]
• minimum	1,200 m3/s (42,000 cu ft/s)[1] 700 m3/s (25,000 cu ft/s)
• maximum	35,000 m3/s (1,200,000 cu ft/s)[1] 9,500 m3/s (340,000 cu ft/s)[2]
Discharge
• location	Việt Trì
• average	900 m3/s (32,000 cu ft/s)
Basin features
Tributaries
• left	Nanxi, Lô
• right	Đà

The Red River, also known as the Hong River (traditional Chinese: 紅河; simplified Chinese: 红河; pinyin: Hóng Hé; Vietnamese: Sông Hồng; Chữ Nôm: 瀧紅) and Sông Cái (lit. "Main River"; Chữ Nôm: 瀧丐) in Vietnamese,^[3][4] and the Yuan River (元江, Yuán Jiāng) in Chinese, is a 1,149-kilometer (714 mi)-long river that flows from Yunnan in Southwest China through northern Vietnam to the Gulf of Tonkin. According to C. Michael Hogan, the associated Red River Fault was instrumental in forming the entire South China Sea at least as early as 37 million years before present. The name red and southern position in China are associated in traditional cardinal directions. The river is relatively shallow, and carries a lot of reddish silt along its way, appearing red brown in colour.