Moonlight on the mother river of China. Yangtze River, the third longest river in the world, runs from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, surges southeastward until it meets the Hengduan Mountain Range. The unusual geological phenomenons force the Yangtze to make a sudden V-shaped bend and flow to the northeast. This extraordinary turn, nearly180-degrees, is called "First Bend of the Yangtze River".