The Yangtze River transports 12 million tons of particulate organic carbon (POC) to the oceans annually, with a computed yield of 6 t km/sup -2/ of drainage basin area. Concentrations of POC can exceed 80 mg/L in near bottom waters but generally range from 4 to 40 mg/L throughout the water column. Most POC percentages (in suspended matter) vary from 1.7 to 4.0 percent, the percentage decreasing with increasing suspended matter concentration although at lesser gradient than that predicted by Meybeck. The divergence from Meybeck's world curve may be related to the high degree of human activity in the Yangtze drainage basin, or it may reflect lack of data from large rivers with high suspended loads. If the Yangtze values are representative of other turbid Asian rivers, present global estimates of fluvially-derived POC may be as much as 50% too low. 17 references, 8 figures, 1 table.