Huang He

/hwahng" hue"/, Pinyin.

a river flowing from W China into the Gulf of Bohai. 2800 mi. (4510 km) long.

See map under Chang Jiang. Also, Hwang Ho. Also called Yellow River.

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, or Huang Ho English Yellow River

River, northern central and eastern China.

The second-longest river in China, it flows 3,395 mi (5,464 km) from the Plateau of Tibet east to the Yellow Sea (Huang Hai). In its lower reaches it has often overflowed its banks, flooding millions of acres of rich farmland, China's rice granary. Its outlet has shifted over the years to enter the Yellow Sea at points as far apart as 500 mi (800 km). Irrigation and flood-control works have been maintained for centuries, and dams, begun in 1955, exploit the river's hydroelectric potential.

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▪ river, China

Introduction

Wade-Giles romanization  Huang Ho , also spelled  Hwang Ho , English  Yellow River  

  principal river of northern China, often called the cradle of Chinese civilization. It is the country's second longest river, with a length of 3,395 miles (5,464 km), and its drainage basin is the third largest in China—an area of some 290,000 square miles (750,000 square km). The river rises in Qinghai (Tsinghai) province on the Plateau of Tibet (Tibet, Plateau of) and crosses six other provinces and two autonomous regions in its course to the Bo Hai (Gulf of Chihli), an embayment of the Yellow Sea. In its lower reaches it is a shifting, turbulent, silt-laden stream that often overflows its banks and sends floodwaters across the North China Plain. For this reason, it has been given such names as “China's Sorrow” and “The Ungovernable.” The word huang (“yellow”) is a reference to the fine loess sediments that the river carries to the sea. The Huang He basin has an enormous population—exceeded by only a small number of countries—and the river and its tributaries flow past some of China's oldest cities, including Lanzhou, Baotou, Xi'an (Sian), Taiyuan, Luoyang, Zhengzhou, Kaifeng, and Jinan.

Physical features

      The Huang He is divided into three distinct parts: the mountainous upper course, the middle course across a plateau, and the lower course across a low plain.

The upper course

      The Huang He originates at an elevation above 15,000 feet (4,600 metres) in the Bayan Har Mountains, in the eastern Plateau of Tibet. In its upper reaches the river crosses two large bodies of water, Lakes Ngoring and Gyaring. These shallow lakes, each covering an area of about 400 square miles (1,000 square km), are rich in fish and freeze over in winter. The Huang He in this region flows generally from west to east. The broad highlands of the upper course rise 1,000–1,700 feet (300–500 metres) above the river and its tributaries. The highlands consist of crystalline rocks that are sometimes visible as eroded outcroppings on the surface. The river enters a region of deep gorges, winding its way first southeast, then northwest around the A'nyêmaqên (Amne Machin) Mountains, where its fall exceeds 10 feet per mile (2 metres per km), and then east again between the Xiqing and Laji mountains. Past the gorges, near the city of Lanzhou, it leaves the Plateau of Tibet. This marks the end of the upper Huang He, which is some 725 miles (1,165 km) from its source. The upper course drains a basin covering about 48,000 square miles (124,000 square km), consisting chiefly of inaccessible, highly mountainous, sparsely populated terrain with a cold climate.

The middle course

      The middle course of the Huang He, extending more than 1,800 miles (2,900 km), consists of a great loop and drains an area of about 23,000 square miles (60,000 square km). The river at first flows northeast for about 550 miles (880 km) through the sandy soils of northern Ningxia (Ningsia) and of the western Ordos Desert (Ordos Plateau); it has many rapids there, and in a number of places it narrows. The river then turns eastward and flows for another 500 miles (800 km) through alluvial plains in Inner Mongolia, in places branching into numerous distributary channels. In this stretch its fall is less than half a foot per mile (9 cm per km), and many of the channels have been developed over the millennia for irrigated agriculture. The Huang He then turns sharply to the south and flows for about 445 miles (715 km), forming the border between Shaanxi (Shensi) and Shanxi (Shansi) provinces. The river's width usually does not exceed 150–200 feet (45–60 metres) in this section, as it cuts through narrow gorges with steep slopes several hundred feet (above 100 metres) in height. The river then gradually widens, notably after receiving the waters of its two longest tributaries: first the Fen River of Shanxi province and then the Wei River of Shaanxi. At the confluence with the Wei, the river turns sharply to the east for another 300 miles (480 km) as it flows through inaccessible gorges between the Zhongtiao and eastern Qin (Tsinling) (Qin Mountains) mountains. The average fall in this stretch is slightly more than one foot per mile (20 cm per km) and becomes increasingly rapid in the last 100 miles (160 km) before the river reaches the North China Plain at the city of Zhengzhou.

      Most of the middle course is cut through the Loess Plateau, which extends eastward from the Plateau of Tibet to the North China Plain at elevations ranging between 3,000 and 7,000 feet (900 and 2,100 metres). The plateau contains terraced slopes as well as alluvial plains and a scattering of peaks sometimes rising more than 1,500 feet (450 metres) above the plateau. Across this plateau, the river has cut at least six terraces, rising to more than 1,600 feet (500 metres) above the present river level. The terraces, formed over the past 2.5 million years, provide an important record of landscape evolution and ancient environmental change in the region. The underlying rock systems are covered with thick layers of loose soils, consisting mainly of wind-deposited sand and loess. The loess strata reach thicknesses of 160–200 feet (48–60 metres) and in some places as much as 500 feet (150 metres). Through these loose deposits the river has cut deep valleys, carrying away with it huge quantities of surface material, making this one of the most highly eroded landscapes in the world. The easily eroded loess soil accounts for the instability of the riverbed both in the middle basin, where the erosion is considerable, and on the plain, where deposition builds up the channel bed.

The lower course

      Downstream from Zhengzhou the Huang He broadens out to flow through Henan and Shandong (Shantung) provinces across the North China Plain. The plain is a great, nearly featureless alluvial fan broken only by the low hills of central Shandong; it was formed over some 25 million years as the Huang He and other rivers deposited enormous quantities of silt, sand, and gravel into the shallow sea that once covered the region. The plain has been densely inhabited for millennia and long has been one of China's principal agricultural regions. The river has changed its course across the plain several times, and the region's inhabitants have built extensive systems of levees and irrigation works in an attempt to control the river's flow. The area illustrates perhaps better than any other place on Earth how human activity has combined with natural forces to shape the landscape.

      The lower Huang He is about 435 miles (700 km) long with an average fall of about 3 inches per mile (5 cm per km). Along the river are found occasional areas of sand dunes 15 to 30 feet (5 to 9 metres) high. In general, however, the plain is an area of great floods because the riverbed, built up gradually by sediment deposits, lies above the surrounding land in many places. In the section north of the city of Kaifeng, the low-water level is some 15 feet (5 metres) above the surrounding countryside, the mid-water level is between 19 and 23 feet (6 and 7 metres), and the high-water level is sometimes as much as 30 to 35 feet (9 to 11 metres) above that of the land. From Kaifeng to the Grand Canal (Da Yunhe), the levees are lower than farther upstream, rarely exceeding 3 to 6 feet (1 to 2 metres) in height. Marshes are common. Below the Grand Canal the height of the levees increases to between 13 and 16 feet (4 and 5 metres) and in some places to 25 feet (8 metres).

      The delta of the Huang He begins approximately 50 miles (80 km) from its mouth and spreads out over an area of about 2,100 square miles (5,400 square km). The delta land is marshy, composed of mud and silt, and is covered with reeds. A sandbar at the river's mouth impedes navigation at low tide by boats drawing more than 4 feet (1.2 metres) of water; at high tide the depth on the bar is 8 or 9 feet (2.4 or 2.7 metres).

      Until the late 20th century, the Huang He delta was one of the most actively growing deltas in the world, as the North China Plain continued to extend farther into the Bo Hai (the remnant of the ancient sea now covered by the plain). In the century from 1870 to 1970 the delta grew an average of more than 12 miles (19 km). Some outlying parts expanded even more rapidly: one area grew 6 miles (10 km) during the period 1949–51, and another grew more than 15 miles (24 km) in 1949–52. However, beginning in the 1950s, dam construction upstream—notably the Sanmen Gorge installation in Henan province—began to reduce the silt load that the river could carry to its mouth, and by the 1990s the delta was actually eroding.

Hydrology

      The lower Huang He has changed course radically throughout its geologic history. The river's decreased gradient and velocity on the plain cause its suspended load of silt to settle. As the riverbed builds up, the stream shifts course to occupy a lower level. In the past four millennia the river has entered the Yellow Sea at points as much as 500 miles (800 km) apart. From the 3rd millennium BC to 602 BC, when it occupied its northernmost course, it flowed near the present-day city of Tianjin and entered the nearby Bo Hai. From 602 BC to AD 70 both the river and its mouth shifted to the a point on the Yellow Sea south of the Shandong Peninsula. From 70 to 1048 the Huang He again shifted to the north, taking up a course near its present bed.

      From 1048 to 1194 changes in the course of the river occurred farther inland, where the river enters the North China Plain. In 1194 the river occupied a course running to the southern edge of the delta. In that year, after protecting dikes had been ruptured, a second arm of the Huang He began flowing south of the Shandong Peninsula. From 1289 to 1324 the river took over the bed of the Guo River and a large part of the Huai River, entering the Yellow Sea well to the south of Shandong. It was stable for more than 500 years until the 1850s, when it again shifted to the north of the Shandong Peninsula, finally settling into its present course.

      As the Chinese developed agriculture on the plain, they became more adept at building levees (levee) to stabilize the channel and thereby protect the inhabitants against the floods (flood) brought by shifts in the channel. Tens of thousands of miles of levees have been constructed through the centuries. The overall effect of these has been to delay flooding, but, because the riverbed has been elevated and confined artificially, levee breaching and channel shifts have become more dramatic and destructive than they otherwise would have been. The few hydraulic engineers who succeeded in decreasing rather than increasing the flood hazard have gained legendary status in Chinese history.

      Breaks in the levees have been more frequent than course changes throughout history. Between 960 and 1048 there were 38 major breaks, and 29 more were recorded from 1048 to 1194. In later years such breaches were less frequent as a result of systematic improvements to the levee system. The slackening of these efforts during the Taiping Rebellion (1850–64) led to the major change in the course of the river that occurred from 1852 to 1854. In 1887 the Huang He burst the levees near the city of Kaifeng and began to flow into the Huai River, but engineering efforts succeeded in returning it to its former course in 1889. The flood of 1887 covered thousands of square miles, completely burying many villages under silt. In 1889 another flood destroyed 1,500 villages. The next major flood, in 1921, wiped out hundreds of populated places, mainly near the river's mouth. In the flood of 1933 more than 3,000 populated places were submerged and 18,000 people killed. Other floods occurred in 1938—when the levees were purposely broken near Zhengzhou to delay the advance of Japanese troops—and in 1949.

      The Huang He carries an average annual volume of about 13.4 cubic miles (56 cubic km) of water down to the sea, a rate of about 62,500 cubic feet (1,770 cubic metres) per second. The rate can be as much as 78,000 cubic feet (2,200 cubic metres) per second in high-volume years and as little as 22,000–28,000 cubic feet (600–800 cubic metres) per second in low-volume years. There also is considerable seasonal variation in its volume. The river has a low discharge rate—eight other Chinese rivers exceed that of the Huang He—because its basin encompasses large areas of arid or semiarid land, where considerable quantities of water evaporate or are diverted for irrigation. More than half of the basin's annual precipitation falls during the rainy season (July to October). The average annual precipitation for the entire basin is about 18.5 inches (470 mm), but its distribution is highly uneven. 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. Seasonal maximum flows can be considerable: 188,900 to 216,200 cubic feet (5,350 to 6,120 cubic metres) per second near Lanzhou, 350,000 cubic feet (10,000 cubic metres) near Longmen, and 1,270,000 cubic feet (36,000 cubic metres; recorded in 1943) in the lower parts of the river.

      The Huang He carries along the highest concentration of sediment load of any river in the world, amounting to about 57 pounds of silt per cubic yard (34 kg per cubic metre) of water, as compared with 2 pounds (1 kg) for the Nile River, 9 pounds (5 kg) for the Amu Darya (the ancient Oxus River), and 22 pounds (13 kg) for the Colorado River. Floodwaters may contain up to 1,200 pounds of silt per cubic yard (710 kg per cubic metre) of water (70 percent by volume). The river, unimpeded, carried down to the sea about 1.52 billion tons of silt per year, a large part of it loess, which was loose and easily washed away. Other factors contributing to the high volume of silt included the steepness of the slopes, the rapidity of the current, and a lack of forested areas to check erosion. The reservoirs created by dams have allowed increasing quantities of silt to settle out.

      The Huang He freezes over in parts of its middle section for several months each winter. On the North China Plain near Kaifeng there are 15 to 20 icebound days per year, but farther downstream there are none at all. Ice jams are broken up with the help of aerial bombardment or sometimes by artillery shelling.

Economic development

 Water resources in the Huang He basin have been managed by irrigation and flood-control works of significant size since the 3rd century BC. Modern hydraulic engineering techniques have been applied since the 1920s, while basinwide multipurpose development efforts have been under way since the mid-1950s. The major accomplishments of that program have included giant hydroelectric (hydroelectric power) dams at the Liujia Gorge and other gorges near Lanzhou and major irrigation projects—some with smaller hydroelectric stations—at several locations farther downstream. On the plain, levees have been strengthened and the flood-control system rationalized and integrated with reservoirs and with the Grand Canal (which crosses the Huang He in western Shandong province). Erosion-control measures on the Loess Plateau have reduced the silt load carried downstream. The key project has been the huge dam at the Sanmen Gorge upstream of Luoyang and the reservoir impounded behind it. The project has augmented flood control on the plain and has also provided water for irrigation and hydroelectric power generation, although silt deposition in the reservoir has reduced its functional capabilities.

      As modern economic development has increased throughout the basin, however, pollution from industrial sources and agricultural runoff has also increased. In addition, the greater demand for limited water resources has caused shortages, which have been severe at times.

Study and exploration

      The Huang He and its floods have been central to the legend, folklore, and written history of Chinese civilization for more than three millennia. Regular records of major floods and of changes in the river's course have been kept since the 6th century BC, and water levels have been studied since 1736. The first European to explore (Earth exploration) the upper reaches of the Huang He was a Russian traveler, Nikolay Mikhaylovich Przhevalsky (Przhevalsky, Nikolay Mikhaylovich), in 1879 and 1884. Systematic study of the river basin was first undertaken in the 1950s by Chinese and Soviet scientists. Since the 1970s this work has been carried on by Chinese scientists in cooperation with specialists from numerous other countries.

Igor Vladimirovich Popov Charles E. Greer Ed.

Additional Reading

Important sources on the Huang He include Lynn Pan, Into China's Heart: An Emigré's Journey Along the Yellow River (1985), a valuable look at life in the basin. Pictographic appreciations are given in Foreign Languages Press, Along the Yellow River (1975); and Kevin Sinclair, The Yellow River: A 5000 Year Journey Through China (1987). K.J. Gregory, The Yellow River (1980), presents a brief descriptive survey. Charles Greer, Water Management in the Yellow River Basin of China (1979), combines treatment of general hydrology, historical management, and the inception of the modern basinwide, multiple-purpose project. Lucien M. Brush, M. Gordon Wolman, and Huang Bing-wei (eds.), Taming the Yellow River: Silt and Floods (1989), provides more focused analyses by technical specialists. A useful text on the management, implementation, and environmental consequences of dam construction and hydroelectric generation is provided by Justin Fong, Xiaolongdi Dam: A Study of World Bank Environmental Management in China (1998). Su Xiaokang and Wang Luxiang, Deathsong of the River, trans. and annotated by Richard W. Bodman and Pin P. Wan (1991), presents commentary, interpretation, and English-language transcription of the precedent-setting documentary on the river's role in Chinese civilization as well as in modern development.Charles E. Greer

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