The Han River is a left tributary

Tributary

A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean...

 of the Yangtze River

Yangtze River

The Yangtze, Yangzi or Cháng Jiāng is the longest river in Asia, and the third-longest in the world. It flows for from the glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau in Qinghai eastward across southwest, central and eastern China before emptying into the East China Sea at Shanghai. It is also one of the...

 (Cháng Jiāng) with a length of 1532 km. Historically it was referred to as Hànshuǐ and the name is still occasionally used today.

The Han River rises in southwestern Shaanxi

Shaanxi

' is a province in the central part of Mainland China, and it includes portions of the Loess Plateau on the middle reaches of the Yellow River in addition to the Qinling Mountains across the southern part of this province...

 and flows east across the southern part of that province. To the north are the Qin Mountains, then the Wei River

Wei River

The Wei River is a major river in west-central China's Gansu and Shaanxi provinces. It is the largest tributary of the Yellow River and very important in the early development of Chinese civilization....

 tributary of the Yellow River

Yellow River

The Yellow River or Huang He, formerly known as the Hwang Ho, is the second-longest river in China and the sixth-longest in the world at the estimated length of . Originating in the Bayan Har Mountains in Qinghai Province in western China, it flows through nine provinces of China and empties into...

 and the Ordos Loop

Ordos Loop

The Ordos Loop is a region of China west of Beijing. The Yellow River flows north-northeast, then east, and then south forming three sides of an imperfect rectangle. The south side is formed by the Wei River which rises not far from the southwest corner and flows east to the southeast corner...

 region. To the south are the Daba Mountains

Daba Mountains

Daba Mountains, or Dabashan is a mountain range in Central China, north of the Yangtze River.-Geography:The Daba Mountains run in the general west-northwest to east-southeast direction, along the border between, on the one side Sichuan and Chongqing, and on the other side Shaanxi and Hubei...

 which separate it from Sichuan

Sichuan

' , known formerly in the West by its postal map spellings of Szechwan or Szechuan is a province in Southwest China with its capital in Chengdu...

 and Chongqing

Chongqing

Chongqing is a major city in Southwest China and one of the five national central cities of China. Administratively, it is one of the PRC's four direct-controlled municipalities , and the only such municipality in inland China.The municipality was created on 14 March 1997, succeeding the...

. The main cities are Hanzhong

Hanzhong

Hanzhong is a municipality in southwest Shaanxi Province, China, occupying a historically significant valley in the mountains between the Xi'an area, home to many Chinese capitals, and the fertile but isolated Sichuan Basin...

 in the west and Ankang

Ankang

Ankang is a city in Shaanxi province, China.- Geography :Ankang is geographically considered to be part of southern China. However, on administrative terms, as Shaanxi is officially part of Northwestern China, it is considered to be part of the Northwest....

 in the east. It then enters Hubei

Hubei

' Hupeh) is a province in Central China. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Lake Dongting...

. It crosses most of Hubei from the northwest to the southeast, falling into the Yangtze at the provincial capital Wuhan

Wuhan

Wuhan is the capital of Hubei province, People's Republic of China, and is the most populous city in Central China. It lies at the east of the Jianghan Plain, and the intersection of the middle reaches of the Yangtze and Han rivers...

, a city of several million inhabitants. The merging rivers divide the city of Wuhan into three sections: Wuchang (on the south side of the Yangtze, across the river from the mouth of the Han River), Hankou (on the north side of the Yangtze and the Han), and Hanyang (between the Yangtze and the Han).

Danjiangkou Dam

Danjiangkou Dam

The Danjiangkou Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Han river near Danjiangkou in Hubei Province, China. The dam is part of the South-North Water Transfer Project and was heightened to in order to increase reservoir capacity. The original dam was constructed between 1958 and 1973 and heightened...

 was constructed on the Han River in northern Hubei in 1958. It has been heightened since. The Danjiangkou Reservoir

Danjiangkou Reservoir

Danjiangkou Reservoir is a multi-purpose reservoir in Xichuan County, Henan and Danjiangkou City, Hubei province, Central China. Created by the Danjiangkou Dam, it serves as a supply of water for the region as well as irrigation, electricity generation and flood control. It was constructed in 1958,...

 created thereby is now used as part of the South–North Water Transfer Project.