Xiang River

Xiang
The Yang (left) and Xiang (right) basins, draining north to Lake Dongting.
Chinese
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Xiāng Wade–Giles Hsiang Xiang IPA Siɔ̃44-ziɔ̃31 Siɔ̃44-swɛ13 Old Chinese Zhengzhang  *Slaŋ
Xiang River
Chinese
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Xiāngjiāng Wade–Giles Hsiang Chiang
Xiang River
Chinese
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Xiāngshǔi Wade–Giles Hsiang Shui

The Xiang River, formerly romanized as the Siang Kiang and now also known as the Xiangjiang, is a river in southern China. The river's name and character is used as the Chinese abbreviation for Hunan.

Originating from Haiyang Mountain (海陽山) in Lingui of Guangxi, the Xiang is the largest river in Hunan and one of the largest tributaries of Yangtze River. It is 856 kilometers (532 mi) long and 670 kilometers (420 mi) of it is in Hunan.

People say the Xiang and the Lijiang River share the same origin, because the upper reaches of the two rivers are connected by the ancient Lingqu Canal, which is located in Xing'an County, Guangxi. According to a traditional saying, 70% of the water in Lingqu flows into the Xiang and 30% flows into the Lijiang. In the past, the canal, along with the Xiang River and the Gui River provided an important waterway connecting the Yangtze River with the Pearl River Delta.

The river passes places such as Xing'an, Quanzhou, and Dongan, Yongzhou, Qiyang, Hengyang, Zhuzhou, Xiangtan, Changsha, Wangcheng, Xiangyin, and empties into Lake Dongting, where it connects to the Yangtze.