The Songhua or Sunghwa River (also Haixi or Xingal, ) is one of the primary rivers of China, and the longest tributary of the Amur. It flows about which is named after the scenic area on the south bank ().
The river flows onward through Jiamusi and south of the Lesser Xing'an Range, to eventually join the Amur at Tongjiang, Heilongjiang.
The river freezes from late November until March. It has its highest flows when the mountain snow melts during the spring thaw. The river is navigable up to Harbin by medium-sized ships. Smaller craft can navigate the Songhua up to Jilin and the Nen River up to Qiqihar.
Cities along the river include:
- Jilin
- Harbin
- Jiamusi
History
Vendors on frozen Songhua|thumb|left
In November 2005, the river was contaminated with benzene, leading to a shutdown of Harbin's water supply. The spill stretched and eventually reached the Amur (Heilong) River on the China–Russia border. On July 28, 2010, several thousand barrels from two chemical plants in China's Jilin City were washed away by floods. Some of them contained of explosive material like trimethylsilyl chloride and hexamethyldisiloxane. In 2016, the part near the city of Jilin was affected by a minor flood.
See also
- Geography of China
- Mudanjiang River
- "Along the Songhua River", a Chinese patriotic song