TheYellow River,[a] also known asHuanghe, is thesecond-longest river in China and thesixth-longest river system on Earth, with an estimated length of 5,464 km (3,395 mi) and adrainage basin of 795,000 km2 (307,000 sq mi). Beginning in theBayan Har Mountains, the river flows generally eastwards before entering the 1,500 km (930 mi) long Ordos Loop, which runs northeast atGansu through theOrdos Plateau and turns east inInner Mongolia. The river then turns sharply southwards to form the border betweenShanxi andShaanxi, turns eastwards at its confluence with theWei River, and flows across theNorth China Plain before emptying into theBohai 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 theLoess Plateau.[1]
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 theSouth–North Water Transfer Project to alleviate the strain on the river's water supply.
When the Yellow River was still somewhat clear, it was simply referred to as 'the river' (河,Old Chinese:*gâi).[7] Observations made at theYumenkou gorge, where the river leaves the modernLoess Plateau, indicated the river changed to muddy sometime between 367 BC and 165 AD, according to chronicles' records.[8] The alternative names 'murky river' (濁河,*drôk-gâi) and '(muddy) yellow river' (黃河,*gwâŋ-gâi)[7] were attested in 145 BC[9][10] and in 429 AD respectively.[b] The name Yellow River fully replaces Murky River by the end ofTang dynasty, for unclear reasons.[c]
The cause of the floods is the large amount offine-grainedloess carried by the river from theLoess Plateau, which is continuously deposited along the bottom of its channel. The sedimentation causes natural dams to slowly accumulate. These subaqueous dams are unpredictable and generally undetectable. Eventually, the enormous amount of water needs to find a new way to the sea, forcing it to take thepath of least resistance. When this happens, it bursts out across the flatNorth China Plain, sometimes taking a new channel and inundating most farmland, cities or towns in its path.
The traditional Chinese response of building higher and higherlevees along the banks sometimes also contributed to the severity of the floods: When flood water did break through the levees, it could no longer drain back into the river bed as it would after a normal flood, as the river bed was sometimes now higher than the surrounding countryside. These changes could cause the river's mouth to shift as much as 480 km (300 mi), sometimes reaching the ocean to the north of theShandong Peninsula and sometimes to the south.[27]
Another historical source of devastating floods is the collapse of upstreamice dams inInner Mongolia with an accompanying sudden release of vast quantities of impounded water. There have been 11 such major floods in the past century, each causing tremendous loss of life and property. Nowadays, explosives dropped from aircraft are used to break the ice dams before they become dangerous.[28]
Before moderndams appeared in China, the Yellow River used to be extremely prone to flooding. In the 2,540 years from 595 BC to 1946 AD, the Yellow River has been reckoned to have flooded 1,593 times, shifting its course 26 times noticeably and nine times severely.[2] These floods include some of the deadliestnatural disasters ever recorded. Before modern disaster management, when floods occurred, some of the population might initially die from drowning and many more would suffer later from the ensuing famine and spread of diseases.[29]
The Yellow River as depicted in a Qing dynasty illustrated map (sections)Historical courses of the Yellow RiverHistorical courses of the Yellow River
InChinese mythology, the giantKua Fu drained the Yellow River and theWei River to quench his burning thirst as he pursued the Sun.[30] Historical documents from theSpring and Autumn period[31] andQin dynasty[32] indicate that the Yellow River at that time flowed considerably north of its present course. These accounts show that after the river passedLuoyang, it flowed along the border betweenShanxi andHenan Provinces, then continued along the border betweenHebei and Shandong before emptying intoBohai Bay near present-dayTianjin. Another outlet followed essentially the present course.[2]
The river left these paths in 602 BC and shifted several hundred kilometers to the east.[31][33] Sabotage of dikes, canals, and reservoirs and deliberate flooding of rival states became a standard military tactic during theWarring States period.[34] As the Yellow River valley was the major entryway to theGuanzhong area and thestate of Qin from theNorth China Plain, Qin heavily fortified theHangu Pass; it saw numerous battles and was also an important chokepoint protecting theHan capitals ofChang'an andLuoyang. Major flooding in AD 11 is credited with the downfall of the short-livedXin dynasty, and another flood in AD 70 returned the river north of Shandong on essentially its present course.[2]
From around the beginning of the 3rd century, the importance of theHangu Pass was reduced, with the major fortifications and military bases moved upriver toTongguan. In AD 923, the desperateLater Liang generalDuan Ning again broke the dikes, flooding 1,000 square miles (2,600 km2) in a failed attempt to protect his realm's capital from theLater Tang. A similar proposal from theSong engineer Li Chun concerning flooding the lower reaches of the river to protect the central plains from theKhitai was overruled in 1020: theChanyuan Treaty between the two states had explicitly forbidden the Song from establishing new moats or changing river courses.[35]
Breaches occurred regardless:one at Henglong in 1034 divided the course into three and repeatedly flooded the northern regions ofDezhou andBozhou.[35] The Song worked for five years futilely attempting to restore the previous course – using over 35,000 employees, 100,000 conscripts, and 220,000 tons of wood and bamboo in a single year[35] – before abandoning the project in 1041. The more sluggish river then occasioned a breach atShanghu that sent the main outlet north towardsTianjin in 1048.[2]
In 1128, Song troops under theKaifeng governorDu Chong(杜充,Dù Chōng, d.1141) breached the southern dikes of the Yellow River in an effort to stop the advancingJin army. The resulting major riveravulsion allowed the Yellow tocapture theSi and other tributaries of theHuai River.[36] For the first time in recorded history, the Yellow River shifted completely south ofShandong Peninsula and flowed into theYellow Sea. By 1194, the mouth of the Huai had been blocked.[37] The buildup of silt deposits was such that even after the Yellow River later shifted its course, the Huai could no longer flow along its historic course, but instead, its water pools intoHongze Lake and then runs southward toward theYangtze River.[38]
A flood in1344 returned the Yellow River south of Shandong. TheYuan dynasty was waning, and the emperor forced enormous teams to build new embankments for the river. The terrible conditions helped to fuel rebellions that led to the founding of theMing dynasty.[27] The course changed again in1391 when the river flooded fromKaifeng toFengyang inAnhui. It was finally stabilized by the eunuch Li Xing during the public works projects following the1494 flood.[39] The river flooded many times in the 16th century, including in 1526, 1534, 1558, and 1587. Each flood affected the river's lower course.[39]
The Yellow River Breaches its Course byMa Yuan (1160–1225,Song dynasty). Flooding of the river has been the cause of millions of deaths.
The1642 flood was man-made, caused by the attempt of the Ming governor of Kaifeng to use the river to destroy the peasant rebels underLi Zicheng who had been besieging the city for the past six months.[40] He directed his men to break the dikes in an attempt to flood the rebels, but destroyed his own city instead: the flood and the ensuing famine and plague are estimated to have killed 300,000 of the city's previous population of 378,000.[41] The once-prosperous city was nearly abandoned until its rebuilding under theKangxi Emperor in theQing dynasty.
The question of how aggressively flooding should be controlled, and whether it should be steered back to its original channels when it migrated, was a topic of controversy in the imperial court. Rival cliques made arguments based on budgetary, technical and strategic criteria. Geographer Charles Greer identifies two competing schools of thought on how to control the Yellow River. One, which he identifies asConfucian, advocated containing the river between higher levees, thus maximizing the amount of river basin land that could be cultivated. The other, which he associates withTaoism, favored lower levees separated by as much as 5–10 kilometers.[42] In one particular long-running debate during the 11th century reigns of theRenzong andShenzong emperors, when the river repeatedly broke its levees and migrated north and west, officials battled over whether expensive measures should be taken to return the river to its former channels. The Shenzong emperor ultimately decreed that the river be allowed to remain in its new course.[43]
Traditionalflood control techniques made use oflevees,revetments to absorb the energy of the water, overflow basins, drainage canals andpolders.[44] Treatises on traditional flood control techniques were written by officials such asPan Jixun,[45] who argued that joining branches of the river increased the water's power and this in turn increased its ability to flush sediment.[46] The difficult situation around the confluence of the Yellow River, the Huai, and the Grand Canal, however, still led to a major flood of the regional centerSizhou and Pan's dismissal from court. Subsequently, the river's 1680 flood entirely submerged Sizhou and the nearbyMausoleum to Ming Ancestors beneath Hongze Lake for centuries until modern irrigation and flood control lowered the water level enough to permit their excavation and the tombs' restoration starting from the 1970s.
The1931 flood killed an estimated 1,000,000 to 4,000,000,[47] and is the worst recorded flood in terms of number of fatalities.
On 9 June 1938, during theSecond Sino-Japanese War,Nationalist troops underChiang Kai-shekbroke the levees holding back the river near the village ofHuayuankou in Henan, causing what has been called by Canadian historian, Diana Lary, a "war-induced natural disaster". The goal of the operation was to stop the advancing Japanese troops by following a strategy of "using water as a substitute for soldiers". The1938 flood of an area covering 54,000 km2 (20,800 sq mi) took some 500,000 to 900,000 Chinese lives, along with an unknown number of Japanese soldiers. The flood prevented the Japanese Army from takingZhengzhou, on the southern bank of the Yellow River, but did not stop them from reaching their goal of capturingWuhan, which was the temporary seat of the Chinese government and straddles theYangtze River.[49]
In 1954, the People's Republic of China announced its General Plan to Fundamentally Control Yellow River Flood Disasters and Develop Yellow River Waterworks.[50]: 111–113 It sought to address both flooding risks and to convert rainfall-fed fields of the North China Plain to irrigated agriculture.[50]: 114 Construction began in earnest in 1957.[50]: 114
From the 1970s to the 1990s, the dry-up trends accelerated, with the Yellow River failing to reach its mouth for an average of approximately 180 days per year in the 1990s.[50]: 168 In 1997, the Yellow River did not reach the sea for 226 consecutive days.[50]: 168
On 12 August 2024, according to the Yellow River Water Conservancy Committee of the Ministry of Water Resources, since the implementation of unified water flow regulation for the entire river in 1999, the Yellow River has achieved continuous flow for 25 consecutive years as of August 12. Over the past 25 years, the main stream of the Yellow River has supplied a total of more than 543.6 billion cubic meters of water, with a total of 1.464 billion cubic meters of ecological water replenishment. The number of bird species in the estuarine wetlands and protected areas has increased to 373, and the wetland ecosystem has undergone a positive restoration.[51]
The Yellow River basin has an east–west extent of about 1,900 kilometers (1,180 mi) and a north–south extent of about 1,100 km (680 mi). Its totaldrainage area is about 795,000 square kilometers (307,000 sq mi).
The Yellow River derived sediments have been transported out of the Bohai Sea, all way to the North Yellow Sea and South Yellow Sea, and formed a Distal Depocenter around the Shandong Peninsula.[56]
The upper reaches of the Yellow River constitute a segment starting from its source in the Bayan Har Mountains and ending at Hekou Town (Togtoh County),Inner Mongolia just before it turns sharply to the south. This segment has a total length of 3,472 kilometers (2,157 mi) and total basin area of 386,000 square kilometers (149,000 sq mi), 51.4% of the total basin area. Along this length, the elevation of the Yellow River drops 3,496 meters (11,470 ft), with an averagegrade of 0.10%.
The source section flows mainly through pastures, swamps, and knolls between theBayan Har Mountains, and the Anemaqen (Amne Machin) Mountains in Qinghai. The river water is clear and flows steadily. Crystal clear lakes are characteristic of this section. The two main lakes along this section are Lake Gyaring (Zhaling) and Lake Ngoring (Eling), with capacities of 4.7 billion and 10.8 billion m3 (166 and 381 billion ft3), respectively. At elevations over 4,290 m (14,070 ft) above sea level they are the two largest plateau freshwater lakes nationwide. A significant amount of land in the Yellow River's source area has been designated as theSanjiangyuan ("'Three Rivers' Sources") National Nature Reserve, to protect the source region of the Yellow River, theYangtze, and theMekong.
Flowing east at the eastern edge of the Amne Machin Mountains, the Yellow River entersMaqu County inGansu. Here, the river skirts through the high-altitude peat bog known as theZoigê Wetlands and makes a sharp turn towards the northwest forming the border between Maqu andZoigê County inSichuan. Flowing now along the northern edge of Amne Machin, the river reenters Qinghai and gradually curves north towards the Longyang Gorge atXinghai.
The valley section stretches from Longyang Gorge in Qinghai to Qingtong Gorge in Gansu. Steep cliffs line both sides of the river. The water bed is narrow and the average drop is large, so the flow in this section is extremely turbulent and fast. There are 20 gorges in this section, the most famous of these being theLongyang, Jishi,Liujia, Bapan, andQingtong gorges. The flow conditions in this section makes it the best location forhydroelectric plants. The Yellow River exits Qinghai for the second and final time in these gorges and enters Gansu for the second time just before Liujia Gorge. Downstream from the Yanguo Gorge, the provincial capital ofLanzhou is built upon the Yellow River's banks. The Yellow River flows northeasterly out of Gansu and intoNingxia before the Qingtong Gorge.
After emerging from the Qingtong Gorge, the river comes into a section of vastalluvial plains, theYinchuan Plain andHetao Plain. In this section, the regions along the river are mostly deserts and grasslands, with very few tributaries. The flow is slow. The Hetao Plain has a length of 900 km (560 mi) and width of 30 to 50 km (19 to 31 mi). It is historically the most important irrigation plain along the Yellow River.
TheOrdos Loop formed by an enormous twist of the Yellow River, beginning atZhongning County inNingxia and ending with a drastic eastward turn at its confluence with theWei atTongguan inShaanxi. However, the official division for the middle reaches of the river run fromHekou inTogtoh County,Inner Mongolia, toZhengzhou,Henan. The middle reaches are 1,206 km (749 mi) long, with a basin area of 344,000 square kilometers (133,000 sq mi), 45.7% of the total, with a total elevation drop of 890 m (2,920 ft), an average drop of 0.074%. There are 30 large tributaries along the middle reaches, and the water flow is increased by 43.5% on this stage. The middle reaches contribute 92% of the river's silts.
The middle stream of the Yellow River passes through theLoess Plateau, where substantial erosion takes place. The large amount of mud and sand discharged into the river makes the Yellow River the mostsediment-laden river in the world. The highest recorded annual level of silts discharged into the Yellow River is 3.91 billion tons in 1933. The highest silt concentration level was recorded in 1977 at 920 kg/m3 (57.4 lb/ft3). These sediments later deposit in the slower lower reaches of the river, elevating theriver bed and creating the famous "river above ground". From Hekou to Yumenkou, the river passes through the longest series of continuous valleys on its main course, collectively called the Jinshan Valley. The abundant hydrodynamic resources stored in this section make it the second most suitable area to build hydroelectric power plants. The famousHukou Waterfall is in the lower part of this valley on the border ofShanxi andShaanxi.
In the lower reaches, fromZhengzhou to its mouth, a distance of 786 km (488 mi), the river is confined to alevee-lined course as it flows to the northeast across theNorth China Plain before emptying into theBohai Sea. The basin area in this stage is only 23,000 square kilometers (8,900 sq mi), a mere 3% of the total, because few tributaries add to the flow in this stage; nearly all rivers to the south drain into theHuai River, whereas those to the north drain into theHai River. The Huai River Basin, for example, is separated from the Yellow River Basin by the south dike of the Yellow River.[57] The total drop in elevation of the lower reaches is 93.6 m (307 ft), with an average grade of 0.012%.
The silts received from the middle reaches form sediments here, elevating the river bed. Excessive sediment deposits have raised the riverbed several meters above the surrounding ground. That is why this part of the river is calledthe 'Earth Suspended River'. AtKaifeng, Henan, the Yellow River is 10 meters (33 ft) above the ground level.[58]
Expansion of the Yellow River Delta from 1989 to 2009 in five-year intervals.Yellow River Delta
The Yellow River is notable for the large amount ofsilt it carries—1.6 billion tons annually at the point where it descends from theLoess Plateau. If it is running to the sea with sufficient volume, 1.4 billion tons are carried to the sea per year.[citation needed] One estimate gives 34 kilograms of silt per cubic meter, as opposed to 10 for theColorado and 1 for theNile.[2]
Its average discharge is said to be 2,110 cubic meters per second (32,000 for the Yangtze), with a maximum of 25,000 and minimum of 245. However, since 1972, it often runs dry before it reaches the sea. The low volume is due to increased agricultural irrigation, increased by a factor of five since 1950. Water diverted from the river as of 1999 served 140 million people and irrigated 74,000 km2 (29,000 sq mi) of land.[53] The Yellow River delta totals 8,000 square kilometers (3,100 square miles). However, with the decrease in silt reaching the sea, it has been reported to be shrinking slightly each year since 1996 through erosion.[59]
The highest volume occurs during the rainy season from July to October, when 60% of the annual volume of the river flows. Maximum demand for irrigation is needed between March and June. In order to capture excess water for use when needed and for flood control and electricity generation, several dams have been built, but their expected life is limited due to the high silt load. A proposedSouth–North Water Transfer Project involves several schemes to divert water from theYangtze: one in the western headwaters of the rivers where they are closest to one another, another from the upper reaches of theHan River, and a third using the route of the oldGrand Canal.[citation needed]
Due to its heavy load of silt the Yellow River is adepositing stream – that is, it deposits part of its carried burden of soil in its bed in stretches where it is flowing slowly. These deposits elevate the riverbed which flows betweennatural levees in its lower reaches. Should a flood occur, the river may break out of the levees into the surrounding lower flood plain and takea new channel. Historically this has occurred about once every hundred years. In modern times, considerable effort has been made to strengthen levees and control floods.[citation needed]
As reported in 2000, the 7 largest hydro power plants (Longyangxia, Lijiaxia, Liujiaxia, Yanguoxia, Bapanxia, Daxia and Qinglongxia) had the total installed capacity of 5,618 MW.[60]
Theparadise fish is well known in the aquarium hobby and it originates from East Asian river basins, including the Yellow River
The Yellow River basin is rich in fish, being the home of more than 160 native species in 92genera and 28families, including 19 species found nowhere else in the world (endemic).[61][54] However, due to habitat loss, pollution,introduced species and overfishing many of the natives have declined or disappeared entirely; several are recognized asthreatened on China's Red List.[61][62] Dams and their reservoirs have increased the habitat for species of slow-moving and static waters, while it excluded species of flowing waters and prevented the up- and down-stream breedingmigration of others.[61][62] In the 2000s, only 80 native fish in 63 genera and 18 families were recorded in the Yellow River basin.[61] In contrast, introduced fish have risen in both abundance and number of species; only one introduced fish species was recorded in the 1960s when ichthyologistLi Sizhong published his original survey of fish fauna of the region, but by the 2000s there were 26.[61]
As typical of Asian rivers,Cyprinidae is by far the most diverse family in the Yellow River basin. More than 85 cyprinids have been recorded in this basin, including species that still are present and species that no longer are present. Other highly diverse families are thestone loaches (more than 20 species),gobies (c. 15 species),true loaches (c. 10 species) andbagrid catfish (c. 10 species).[61] Although there are species found throughout much of the river, several have a more restricted range. For example, the uppermost, highest parts on theQinghai–Tibet Plateau has relatively few native species, notably snowtrout and allies (Gymnocypris,Gymnodiptychus,Platypharodon andSchizopygopsis), andTriplophysa loaches.[63] Of the 18 endemics in the Yellow River basin, 12 are (or were) found in the upper part.[61] These in particular have become threatened and the fish fauna in many headwaters are now dominated by introducedsalmonids.[61][63] In contrast, the lowermost part of the river and its delta are home to manybrackish water oreuryhaline species, like gobies (although there are also true freshwater gobies in the Yellow River),Asian seabasses,flatfish andTakifugu pufferfish.[61]
An annual fishing ban has been implemented since 2018, covering the entire Yellow River basin from 1 April to 30 June each year.[65] A total ban of fishing of natural fishes is being implemented in the upper reaches of the Yellow River starting 1 April 2022, coveringQinghai,Sichuan andGansu provinces, until the end of 2025. For the rest of the basin, the annual ban is extended to a period from 1 April to 31 July.[66]
The Yellow River is generally less suitable foraquaculture than the rivers of central and southern China, such as the Yangtze or Pearl rivers, but aquaculture is also practiced in some areas along the Yellow River. An important aquaculture area is the riverside plain inXingyang, upstream from Zhengzhou. Since the development of fish ponds started in Xingyang's riversideWangcun Town in 1986, the pond systems in Wangcun have grown to the total size of 15,000mu (10 km2), making the town the largest aquaculture center in north China.[67]
Two turtle species are native to the Yellow River basin: theChinese pond turtle andChinese softshell turtle.[68] Both species—but especially the softshell—are widely farmed for food.[69] A variety of the Chinese softshell turtle popular in Chinese gourmets is called the Yellow River turtle (黄河鳖). Nowadays most of the Yellow River turtles eaten in China's restaurants comes fromturtle farms, which may or may not be near the Yellow River.In 2007, construction started inWangcun,Henan on a large farm for raising this turtle variety. With the capacity for raising 5 million turtles a year, the facility was expected to become Henan's largest farm of this kind.[70]
The huge, entirely aquaticChinese giant salamander, a species that has declined drastically due primarily to persecution for food and traditional medicine, is native to the Yellow River and other Chinese rivers. It is farmed in large numbers in several parts of China and genetic studies have revealed that the captive stock mostly is of Yellow River origin. As these often are released back into the wild, the Yellow River type of the Chinese giant salamander has spread to other parts of China, which represents a problem to the other types.[71]
In abandoned parts of the river delta,woody plant encroachment leads to a decline in herbaceous plant diversity, altering soil characteristics, and potentially impacting the ecological balance and functioning of these wetland ecosystems.[75]
The Shangqiu Yellow River Ancient Course National Forest Park is a man-made forest outside ofShangqiu, cultivated to restore some of the biodiversity of the Yellow River region. The park maintains a rich biodiversity and acts as a resource for research into man-mad forests, and provides sanctuary to someendangered species.[76]
On 25 November 2008, Tania Branigan ofThe Guardian filed a report "China's Mother River: the Yellow River", claiming thatsevere pollution has made one-third of China's Yellow River unusable even for agricultural or industrial use, due to factory discharges and sewage from fast-expanding cities.[77] After reaching the first major city,Xining, the river is heavily polluted.[78] TheYellow River Conservancy Commission had surveyed more than 8,384 mi (13,493 km) of the river in 2007 and said 33.8% of the river system registered worse than "level five" according to the criteria used by theUN Environment Program.[dubious –discuss] Level five is unfit for drinking, aquaculture, industrial use, or even agriculture. The report said waste and sewage discharged into the system last year totaled 4.29b tons. Industry and manufacturing made up 70% of the discharge into the river with households accounting for 23% and just over 6% coming from other sources.[which?]
A traditional belief was that the Yellow River flowed fromHeaven as a continuation of theMilky Way. In a Chinese legend,Zhang Qian is said to have been commissioned to find the source of the Yellow River. After sailing up-river for many days, he saw agirl spinning and a cow herd. Upon asking the girl where he was, she presented him with hershuttle with instructions to show it to the astrologer Yan Junping (嚴君平). When he returned, the astrologer recognized it as the shuttle of the Weaving Girl (Vega), and, moreover, said that at the time Zhang received the shuttle, he had seen awandering star interpose itself between the Weaving Girl and the cow herd (Altair).[79]
The provinces ofHebei andHenan derive their names from the Yellow River. Their names mean, respectively, "North of the River" and "South of the River", although the border between them historically has never been stable, and currently the border between Hebei and Henan is not the Yellow River, but theZhang River instead.
Mother river, China's Sorrow, and cradle of Chinese civilization.
Traditionally, it is believed that the Chinese civilization originated in the Yellow River basin. The Chinese refer to the river as "the Mother River" and "the cradle of the Chinese civilization".During the longhistory of China, the Yellow River has been considered a blessing as well as a curse and has been nicknamed both "China's Pride" and "China's Sorrow".[80] In the twentieth-century, the river became a symbol of the rising Chinese nation in the face of Western and Japanese imperialism.[81] Even before the twentieth-century civilizations have passed down via word-of-mouth numerous poems and folktales involving the Yellow River showing the Yellow River itself has been an "emblem of the Chinese spirit"[82]
River of disaster
Despite the Yellow River having a central role in the development of Chinese civilization on the North China Plain, flooding and constant rerouting of the river has also caused many great disasters to populations along the river, hence it is also known as a River of disaster (Chinese:灾难河). The management of the Yellow River has been a great political trouble to various Chinese dynasties throughout history.[83][84]
When the Yellow River flows clear
Sometimes the Yellow River is poetically called the "Muddy Flow" (濁流;浊流;Zhuó Liú). The Chinese idiom "when the Yellow River flows clear" is used to refer to an event that will never happen and is similar to the English expression "when pigs fly".[citation needed]
"The Yellow River running clear" was reported as a good omen during the reign of theYongle Emperor, along with the appearance of such auspicious legendary beasts asqilin (an African giraffe brought to China by aBengal embassy aboardZheng He's ships in 1414) andzouyu (not positively identified) and other strange natural phenomena.[85]
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^Elvin, Mark and Su Ninghu (1998).The Influence of the Yellow River on Hangzhou Bay since AD 1000, chapter 10 in Elvin and Ts'ui-jung, Sediments of Time. Cambridge University Press. p. 400.ISBN0-521-56381-X.
^Needham, Joseph.Science and Civilization in China. Vol. 1.Introductory Orientations, p. 68. Caves Books Ltd. (Taipei), 1986ISBN052105799X.
^Lary, Diana. "The Waters Covered the Earth: China's War-Induced Natural Disaster". Op. cit. in Selden, Mark & So, Alvin Y., eds.War and State Terrorism: The United States, Japan, and the Asia-Pacific in the Long Twentieth Century, pp. 143–170. Rowman & Littlefield, 2004ISBN0742523918.
^Yang, Gonghuan; Zhuang, Dafang (2014).Atlas of the Huai River Basin Water Environment: Digestive Cancer Mortality. Springer. p. 143.ISBN9789401786195.
^abQi, D. (2016). "Fish of the Upper Yellow River". In Brierley, G.; Li, X.; Cullum, C.; Gao, J. (eds.).Landscape and Ecosystem Diversity, Dynamics and Management in the Yellow River Source Zone. Springer Geography. Springer, Cham. pp. 233–252.ISBN978-3-319-30475-5.
^黄河畔的荥阳市万亩鱼塘 [Ten thousand ofmu of fish ponds in the riverside Xingyang].zgnyqss.com (in Simplified Chinese). 30 September 2011. Archived fromthe original on 1 February 2016. Retrieved17 March 2013.
^荥阳开建河南省最大黄河鳖养殖基地 [Construction started in Xingyang on the province's largest Yellow River Turtle farm].zynews.com (in Simplified Chinese). 24 July 2007. Archived fromthe original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved17 March 2013.
^Olson, David M.; Dinerstein, Eric; Wikramanayake, Eric D.; Burgess, Neil D.; Powell, George V. N.; Underwood, Emma C.; D'amico, Jennifer A.; Itoua, Illanga; Strand, Holly E.; Morrison, John C.; Loucks, Colby J.; Allnutt, Thomas F.; Ricketts, Taylor H.; Kura, Yumiko; Lamoreux, John F.; Wettengel, Wesley W.; Hedao, Prashant; Kassem, Kenneth R. (2001). "Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World: A New Map of Life on Earth".BioScience.51 (11): 933.doi:10.1641/0006-3568(2001)051[0933:TEOTWA]2.0.CO;2.
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^Yan Shigu (581–645) mentioned the Yellow River in his annotation "東至堂陽入黃河" in his new edition of 漢書·地理志 (Book of Han, vol. 28). This misled some scholars to believe the annotation existed in the first edition in the 1st century.[11] Li (2004) and Hargett (2021) propose that the earliest attestation of the Yellow River is the line 封爵之誓曰：「使黃河如帶，泰山若厲。國以永寧，爰及苗裔。」invol. 16 ofHan Shu;[11][12] yetQing-era philologistWang Niansun stated that the letter 黃 was a later interpolation and did not exist in the first edition in the 1st century.[13] Excluding these problematic attestations inHan Shu, the two earliest attestations cited by Li (2004) came in 429 and 488.[11] In 429,[14]Pei Songzhi mentioned Yellow River twice in the chapter of 袁紹傳 (Yuan Shao's biography) in 三国志注 (Annotations to Records of the Three Kingdoms), "《魏氏春秋》載紹檄州郡文曰：「...騁良弓勁弩之勢，并州越太行，青州涉濟、漯，大軍汎黃河以角其前...」", and "獻帝傳曰：紹將濟河，沮授(Ju Shou)諫曰：「勝負變化，不可不詳。今宜留屯延津，分兵官渡，若其克獲，還迎不晚，設其有難，衆弗可還。」紹弗從。授臨濟歎曰：「上盈其志，下務其功，悠悠黃河，吾其反乎？」" In 488,[15]Shen Yue mentioned Yellow River in the chapter 索虜, volume 卷九十五列傳第五十五 of 宋書 (Book of Song), "二十九年[宋元嘉二十九年, 公元452年]，太祖更遣張永、王玄謨及爽等北伐，青州刺史劉興祖建議伐河北，曰：「...愚謂宜長驅中山，據其關要。冀州已北，民人尚豐，兼麥已向熟，資因為易。向義之徒，必應響赴，若中州震動，黃河以南，自當消潰。」".
^Deng (2015) proposes that the name "Yellow River" was favoured by Tang dynastyliterati because there was afolk-etymological connection between黃 ('yellow') and廣 ('wide'),橫 ('broad'),鐄 ('large bell') and潢 ('large cistern').[8] However, Schuessler (2007) proposes cognate between黃 ('yellow') andBurmeseဝင်း (wang: 'bright') andဝါ (wa 'yellow'); meanwhile he states that廣 ('wide')'s etymology is uncertain: he relates it either toMizovang "to be large, extensive" andvâng 'breadth', 'width', or toTibetan:ཡངས་པ,Wylie:yangs pa, or toThaiกว้างkwâaŋ 'to be broad', 'wide' (←ว่างwâaŋ 'to be free', 'at leisure', 'unoccupied'). He also cites Baxter & Sagart (1998: 60)'s opinion on a possible relation between廣 and寬kuān 'wide'; and that廣 is perhaps related to root *wa of況kuàng.[16]
