Salween River much of its length, the Salween's course is nearly parallel to that of the much larger Mekong in the east. Although the commonly accepted name is Salween, the river is known by a handful of other names regionally: "Nu" in China, "Thanlwin" in southern Burma, and "Salawin" on the border of Thailand and Burma. Several major sub-continental drainage basins border on the Salween. The Mekong basin forms nearly the entire eastern boundary of the watershed, while the Irrawaddy River flows southwards on the west side of the basin. The smallest boundary is formed by the Yangtze to the extreme north.
Shweli River motorcycles and household goods from China. More recently, Chinese hybrid rice called "sinn shweli" has been introduced by the military authorities to the local farmers as part of the opium eradication drive, most of the crop to be exported back to China. The Shweli I Dam was put into operation on the river in 2008. It is the first of three planned dams on the main stem. Shweli River Shweli River (; ) is a river in Myanmar (Burma). Also known as Nam Mao in Shan and Lung Chuan Chiang(龙川江) in Chinese, it forms part of the boundary between Burma