Nanyang Basin

The Nanyang Basin (simplified Chinese: 南阳盆地; traditional Chinese: 南陽盆地; pinyin: Nányáng Péndì; Jyutping: Naam4joeng4 Pun4dei6) is a major river basin, principally of the Han River (simplified Chinese: 汉水; traditional Chinese: 漢水; pinyin: Hàn Shuǐ; Jyutping: Hon3 Seoi2), located in the central inland part of the People's Republic of China, and thus forms part of the Middle Yangtze region.

Its total area is 46291 square kilometers, and it is one of the most populous basins in China, with around 20 million residents.

[1] To the south and southeast lies the Jianghan Plain, to which lowland access is provided through the Han River valley and the Yun River [zh] corridor, with the Dahong Mountains [zh] intervening.

The other major city, Xiangyang, is an agglomeration of Xiangcheng and Fancheng on opposite banks of the Han River, in the southern extremity of the basin.

Suizhou in the far southeast of the basin along the Yun River, is where the Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng, with its famous bianzhong, was discovered in the 1970s.