the mineral-rich silt that is deposited on the banks of the Huang He River during flooding.

Loess – fertile soil left behind by the flooding of the Huang He River.

At over 5,400 kilometers (3,300 miles) long, the Huang He is China’s second-longest river. It is called the Yellow River because its waters carry silt, which give the river its yellow-brown color, and when the river overflows, it leaves a yellow residue behind.

Northern China

The Yellow River as passes through Yonghe County in Shanxi province. Photo: Xinhua. The mighty Yellow River has earned the name “China’s sorrow” for its tendency to flood, with devastating consequences, over the centuries.

Yellow River, Chinese (Pinyin) Huang He or (Wade-Giles romanization) Huang Ho, also spelled Hwang Ho, English Yellow River, principal river of northern China, east-central and eastern Asia. The Yellow River is often called the cradle of Chinese civilization.

the Yellow River

Severe pollution has made one-third of China’s Yellow river unusable, according to new research. Known as the country’s “mother river”, it supplies water to millions of people in the north of China. But in recent years the quality has deteriorated due to factory discharges and sewage from fast-expanding cities.

The river is extremely prone to flooding and accounts for some of the deadliest disasters in human history. In 1931, an estimated 1 million people died in a massive flood. A key reason for the severity of the floods is deforestation up river and the embankment of tributaries for irrigation.

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It floods in the spring. Its waters have been diverted. It dries up from overuse.

The Yellow River in Modern China In 1887, a major Yellow River flood killed an estimated 900,000 to 2 million people, making it the third-worst natural disaster in history. This disaster helped convince the Chinese people that the Qing Dynasty had lost the Mandate of Heaven.

On August 18, 1931, the Yangtze River in China peaks during a horrible flood that kills 3.7 million people directly and indirectly over the next several months. This was perhaps the worst natural disaster of the 20th century.

Bohai Sea

As the world’s most heavily silted river, the Huang He is estimated to have flooded some 1,500 times since the 2nd century bce, causing unimaginable death and devastation.

China’s Yellow River Plagued by Pollution Most of the Yellow River, the second-longest in China and the cradle of early Chinese civilisation, is so polluted it is not safe for drinking or swimming, Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday.

As an “ecological corridor,” the Yellow River, linking the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the Loess Plateau and plains in northern China with severe water scarcity, plays an important role in improving the ecological environment, combating desertification and providing water supply with the help of water conservancy projects.

Why the Yangtze is so important Industries and farming there contribute as much as 40% of China’s whole economy. This vast river – the biggest in Asia and third longest in the world – is also hugely important because of the variety of animals and plants living in or around it.

Two great rivers run through China Proper: the Yellow River in the north, and the Yangtze (or Yangzi ) River to the south. In fact, most of China Proper belongs to the drainage-basins of these two rivers. Both originate to the far west in the Tibetan Plateau.

Much of the lower reaches of the Yellow River are not navigable, but raftmen, like the man to the left, have found ways to get goods across the river. Below are two pictures showing the Yellow River in its middle reaches running through the Loess Plateau and in its lower reaches running through Shandong province.

The Beijing-Lanzhou “north route” follows the Yellow River for half of its way. The train from Beijing to Tibet via Qinghai passes through several of the cities along the river. There are also boats along some parts of the river.

Still, the Yellow River is considered an important water way in China, and freighters do use it to transport goods inland because boating is cheaper than trucking or rail.

To protect the Yellow River, policies have to strengthen water conservation along the basin, rationally plan economic developments and curb unreasonable water demands.

In some years the bulk of the river’s volume comes from its tributaries. In the upstream areas the main source is snowfall in the mountains, with the high-water level occurring in the spring. The highest water levels in the middle and lower parts of the river occur in July and August.

Locating in arid and semi-arid regions mostly, agricultural water in the Yellow River (YR) basin accounts for more than 70% of the total human water consumption. Irrigation is the most important mode of agricultural development, especially in upper reaches (UR).

The Yellow River is the most important water resource for the dry north of China, playing an irreplaceable role in economic development, and agriculture. Since 1960 over 14 dams have been constructed on the river for hydroelectric power, which is vital to northern China’s infrastructure.

Beginning around 3,000 years ago, researchers found, people living along the Yellow River started building levees and other flood mitigation systems. As populations increased, alterations to the river became more and more extreme. The river, however, was far from tame.