The river passes through the Longmen Mountains and enters the plains of the Sichuan Basin near Dujiangyan.

Some 19th-century Western authors used the name Blue River as the "colloquial name" for the Minjiang, after the former local Chinese name Qingshui (清水, lit.

"Clear water"),[6] and the belief that the Min constituted the main course of the Yangtze,[4] which was itself known to Europeans as the "Blue River".

The Sichuan Taimen, a protected species, has not been seen in one stretch of river, the Wenchuan, for an entire decade.

[8] Located along the Min River is the oldest surviving water management scheme built by hydraulic engineer Li Bing, helping to significantly expand the power of the Qin state and triggering a population boom in the Chengdu plain.