The Yangtze River is the largest river in China, with a total length of 6300 km. The Yangtze River is a river of life, with its vitality from a unique system unifying the main river, branches, lakes and wetlands. It is a key area for biodiversity of the world. The river has ca. 400 species of fishes, of which 156 species are endemic. The middle and lower reaches of the river are a flooding plain formed historically under monsoon climate, having numerous shallow lakes connecting to the river or its branches, with two rare mammals-the freshwater dolphins. In the early 1980s, the lakes had an area of 23123 km², but during 1950-1970, except Lake Poyang and Lake Dongting, all lakes were isolated artificially by concrete sluices, and ca. 76% lake area supporting ecologically the river was decreased. In 1981, a large dam, Gezhouba, was built, followed by the Three Gorges Dam in 2003. Total catches in the main river was 4.3×10⁵ t in 1954, declined to 2.0×10⁵ t in the 1980s, and further to 8.0×10⁴ t in 2011 (a reduction of 81%). In contrast, since the 1950s, total catches in Lakes Dongting and Poyang fluctuated between 2×10⁴-4×10⁴ t, respectively. Abundance of planktonic preys in the river were less than 1/7 of the adjacent lakes, indicating a week ability to support existence of a large number of species. Thus it is not surprising that Lipotes vexillifer and Neophocaena asiaeorientalis witnessed steady declines in abundance, as both species feed on fishes in the river or lakes, as well as partly by indiscriminated killing by fisherman. Since the day when the Gezhouba Dam was built, Chinese sturgeon and paddlefish doomed the fate of extinction, as their reproductive migration pathway was truncated. In the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, there have more than 10 thousand dams, and the survival of most fish is threatened. As to the causes of the biodiversity crisis in the Yangtze River, water conservancy projects such as gates and hydropower stations contributed ca. 70%, whereas other factor such as overfishing contributed ca. 30%. It is impossible to solve the fatal crisis by the so-called flow regulation, or artificial releasing of fingerlings or fishway, and it seems impossible to have a fundamental improvement on the fishery resources in the Yangtze River even fishing is forbidden for ten years. If Lakes Poyang and Dongting are isolated by dams, the fishery resources in the river will further decline, the extinction of the finless porpoise can hardly be avoided, and no prediction can be made for the extinction of other fishes. The Yangtze River is crying, and numerous species need the care of ecological civilization!