Starting from the Qinling Mountains, Jialing River flows Southward through Sichuan Province and converge with Qujiang River and Fujiang River in Hechuan, Chongqing, merging into Yangtze River.

Sichuan and Chongqing were differentiated as Ba and Shu in the ancient time based on Jialing River. The Chengdu Plain, the Northwest of Sichuan Basin was called Shu, while the East of Jialing River and the South of Daba Mountains is called Ba. The exploitation of Sichuan was conducted from Hanzhong and Longnan, Shaanxi Province to Sichuan Basin and branched out into two routes.

Starting from the Central Shaan Plain to the South through Hanzhong, Longnan and Jialing River, to Hubei and Hunan Province — this is the most economical route. Therefore, Jialing River can be regarded as the political center in ancient China.