Huang He – Yellow River
The Huang He is the second longest river in China after the Yangtze River. The name Huang He means “Yellow River” in Chinese. It got its name from the color of its muddy waters. The river is 5,464 kilometers long. It begins in mountains in western China. Much of it runs through the Loess Plateau and a lot of soil washes into the river. The river runs across the North China Plain and flows into the Yellow Sea. The chief tributaries of the Huang River are the Wei and Fen Rivers.
The Huang River has made at least five major direction changes from 602 B.C.E. to today. In the 1200s the river changed its course from northern to southern Shandong Province, flooding 7,769 square kilometers of farmland. In 1850s the river again began flowing through northern Shandong Province, destroying large areas of farmland. In 1938 General Chiang Kai-shek ordered to destroy the levees to flood a valley to stop the advance of Japanese troops. Many of the enemies were killed and more than 1 million Chinese civilians drowned.
The Huang River is the most dangerous river in China because of large-scale erosion occurring in the northern regions and continuous flooding. It is known as “China’s sorrow”.
The lower basin of the river is considered the cradle of Chinese civilization. The archaeological sites are dating back 7,000 years.
People have built earth barriers called levees to protect villages near the Huang He from floods. Since the 2nd century B.C.E., the Huang River has broken the levees some 1,500 times, inundating the surrounding towns. In 1642 the levees broke killed 300,000 people.
Now the river has large dams that control floods and provide electric power.
Yellow River is the national pride of the Chinese.