The Yellow River

I had a chance to spend a few days in Shanxi province while in China, and visited the ever-so-famous Yellow River.  The reason the river is so yellow is because it flows through the loess plateau in China.

The Yellow River is the third-longest river in Asia, following the Yangtze River and Yenisei River, and the 6th longest in the world with the estimated length of 3,395 miles. Originating in Qinghai province of western China, it flows through nine provinces, and it empties into Bohai Sea in Shangdong province. The Yellow River basin has an east–west extent of about 1,180 miles and a north–south extent of about 680 miles. Its total basin area is about 286,659 sq miles.

The Yellow River is called "the cradle of Chinese civilization", because its basin was the birthplace of ancient Chinese civilization, and it was the most prosperous region in early Chinese history. However, frequent devastating floods and course changes produced by the continual elevation of the river bed, sometimes above the level of its surrounding farm fields, has also earned it the unenviable names China's Sorrow and Scourge of the Sons of Han.

The Yellow River is one of several rivers that are essential for China's very existence. At the same time, however, it has been responsible for several deadly floods, including the only natural disasters in recorded history that have killed more than a million people. The deadliest was a 1332–33 flood that killed 7 million people. Close behind is the 1887 flood, which killed anywhere from 900,000 to 2 million people, and a 1931 flood that killed 1–4 million people.

Yellow River, China

October 8, 2014