Yellow River

Yellow River
The Yellow River in Sanmenxia, Henan
Map of the Yellow River, whose watershed covers much of northern China
Native name	黄河 (Chinese) Huánghé (Chinese)
Location
Country	China
Province	Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Shandong
Physical characteristics
Source	Bayan Har Mountains
• location	Yushu Prefecture, Qinghai
• coordinates	34°29′31″N 96°20′25″E / 34.49194°N 96.34028°E / 34.49194; 96.34028
• elevation	4,800 m (15,700 ft)
Mouth	Bohai Sea
• location	Kenli District, Dongying, Shandong
• coordinates	37°45′47″N 119°09′43″E / 37.763°N 119.162°E / 37.763; 119.162
• elevation	0 m (0 ft)
Length	5,464 km (3,395 mi)
Basin size	752,546 km2 (290,560 sq mi)
Discharge
• average	2,571 m3/s (90,800 cu ft/s)
• minimum	1,030 m3/s (36,000 cu ft/s)
• maximum	58,000 m3/s (2,000,000 cu ft/s)
Basin features
Tributaries
• left	Fen River
• right	Tao River, Wei River

Yellow River
Traditional Chinese	黃河
Simplified Chinese	黄河
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Huánghé Wade–Giles Huang2 Ho2 IPA [xwǎŋ xɤ̌] ⓘ Wu Romanization Wån入 Ghu平 Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Wòhng Hòh Jyutping Wong4 Ho4 IPA [wɔŋ˩ hɔ˩] Southern Min Tâi-lô N̂g Hô

The Yellow River^[a] is the second-longest river in China and the sixth-longest river system on Earth, with an estimated length of 5,464 km (3,395 mi) and a watershed of 795,000 km² (307,000 sq mi). Beginning in the Bayan Har Mountains, the river flows generally eastwards before entering the 1,500 km (930 mi) long Ordos Loop, which runs northeast at Gansu through the Ordos Plateau and turns east in Inner Mongolia. The river then turns sharply southwards to form the border between Shanxi and Shaanxi, turns eastwards at its confluence with the Wei River, and flows across the North China Plain before emptying into the Bohai Sea. The river is named for the yellow color of its water, which comes from the large amount of sediment discharged into the water as the river flows through the Loess Plateau.^[1]

The Yellow River basin was the birthplace of ancient Chinese civilization. According to traditional Chinese historiography, the Xia dynasty originated on its banks around 2100 BC; Sima Qian's Shiji (c. 91 BC) record that the Xia were founded after the tribes around the Yellow River united to combat the frequent floods in the area. The river has provided fertile soil for agriculture, but since then has flooded and changed course frequently, with one estimate counting 1,593 floods in the 2,540 years between 595 BC and 1946 AD.^[2] As such, the Yellow River has been considered a blessing and a curse throughout history, and has been nicknamed both "China's Pride" and "China's Sorrow".^[3]

The Yellow River's basin presently has a population of 120 million people, while over 420 million people live in the immediate provinces which rely on it as a water source.^[4] The basin comprises 13 percent of China's cultivated land area.^[5] The area receives very uneven rainfall, only 2 percent of China's water runoff^[5]—water and sediment flow has decreased five-fold since the 1970s, and until recently, the river frequently did not reach the sea.^[6] Since 2003, China has been working on the South–North Water Transfer Project to alleviate the strain on the river's water supply.

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