A Suicide Belt in China: the Yangtze Basin

The Yangtze Basin in China has three parts (see Figure 1): the Sichuan basin, the lower basin and the delta. The Sichuan basin is in the province of Sichuan, the lower basin is in the provinces of Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi and Anhui, while the delta is in the provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang and the city of Shanghai. The Yangtze Basin is the granary of China, contributing about 40% of the crops (including about 70% of the rice); it also produces two-thirds of the freshwater fish and is responsible for about 40% of the gross national product of China. About 40% of the Chinese population lives here, and it contains the large cities of Chengdu, Chongqing, Wuhan, Changsa, Nanchang, Hangzhou and Shanghai, all of which have populations greater than one million. In addition, many heavy industries have been established in the basin.