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Tributaries of the Yellow River include (upstream to downstream (?)) White River (白河) Black River (黑河) Star River (湟水河) Daxia River (大夏河) Tao River (洮河) Zuli River (祖厉河/祖厲河) Qingshui River (清水河) Dahei River (大黑河) Kuye River (窟野河) Wuding River (无定河/無定河) Fen River (汾河) Wei River (渭河) Luo River (洛河) Qin River (沁河) Dawen River (大汶河) Kuo River The Wei River is the largest of these tributaries. Characteristics This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2009) Expansion of the Yellow River Delta from 1989 to 2009 in five year intervals. The Yellow River is notable for the large amount of silt it carries—1.6 billion tons annually at the point where it descends from the Loess Plateau. If it is running to the sea with sufficient volume, 1.4 billion tons are carried to the sea annually.[citation needed] One estimate gives 34 kilograms of silt per cubic meter as opposed to 10 for the Colorado and 1 for the Nile.[25] 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 (48,572 mi²) of land.[22] The Yellow River delta totals 8,000 square kilometers (3,090 mi²). However, with the decrease in silt reaching the sea, it has been reported to be shrinking slightly each year since 1996 through erosion.[26] 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 proposed South–North Water Transfer Project involves several schemes to divert water from the Yangtze River: one in the western headwaters of the rivers where they are closest to one another, another from the upper reaches of the Han River, and a third using the route of the old Grand Canal.[citation needed] Due to its heavy load of silt the Yellow River is a depositing 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 between natural levees in its lower reaches. Should a flood occur, the river may break out of the levees into the surrounding lower flood plain and take a 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] Hydroelectric power dams Liujiaxia Dam, Gansu Sanmenxia Dam, Henan Below is the list of hydroelectric power stations built on the Yellow River, arranged according to the first year of operation (in brackets): Sanmenxia Dam (1960; Sanmenxia, Henan) Sanshenggong Dam (1966) Qingtong Gorge hydroelectric power station (1968; Qingtongxia, Ningxia) Liujiaxia Dam (Liujia Gorge) (1974; Yongjing County, Gansu) Lijiaxia Dam (1997) (Jainca County, Qinghai) Yanguoxia Dam (Yanguo Gorge) hydroelectric power station (1975; Yongjing County, Gansu) Tianqiao Dam (1977) Bapanxia Dam (Bapan Gorge) (1980; Xigu District, Lanzhou, Gansu) Longyangxia Dam (1992; Gonghe County, Qinghai) Da Gorge hydroelectric power station (1998) Li Gorge hydroelectric power station (1999) Wanjiazhai Dam (1999; Pianguan County, Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia) Xiaolangdi Dam (2001) (Jiyuan, Henan) Laxiwa Dam (2010) (Guide County, Qinghai) Yangqu Dam (2015) (Xinghai County, Qinghai) Maerdang Dam (2016) (Maqên County, Qinghai) 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.[27] Crossings Major cities along the Yellow River Pontoon bridge (Luokou Pontoon Bridge simplified Chinese: 洛口浮桥; traditional Chinese: 洛口浮橋; pinyin: Luòkŏu Fúqiáo) over the Yellow River in Jinan, Shandong The main bridges and ferries by the province names in the order of downstream to upstream are:[28][29][30] Shandong Dongying Yellow River Bridge Shengli Yellow River Bridge (Dongying) Lijin Yellow River Bridge (Dongying) Binzhou Yellow River Road-Railway Bridge Binzhou Yellow River Highway Bridge Binzhou–Laiwu Expressway Binzhou Yellow River Bridge (Binzhou–Zibo) Huiqing Yellow River Bridge (Binzhou–Zibo) Jiyang Yellow River Bridge (Jinan) G20 Qingdao–Yinchuan Expressway Jinan Yellow River Bridge (Jinan) Jinan Yellow River Bridge Luokou Yellow River Railway Bridge (Jinan) Jinan Jianbang Yellow River Bridge Beijing–Shanghai High-speed Railway Jinan Yellow River Bridge (Jinan–Dezhou) Beijing–Taipei Expressway Jinan Yellow River Bridge (Jinan–Dezhou) Beijing–Shanghai Railway Jinan Yellow River New Bridge (Jinan–Dezhou) Pingyin Yellow River Bridge (Jinan-Liaocheng) Shandong–Henan Beijing–Kowloon Railway Sunkou Yellow River Bridge (Jining–Puyang) Juancheng Yellow River Highway Bridge (Heze–Puyang) Dongming Yellow River Highway Bridge (Heze–Puyang) Henan Kaifeng Yellow River Bridge (Kaifeng) Zhengzhou Yellow River Bridge (Zhengzhou) Shanxi–Henan Sanmen Yellow River Bridge (Sanmenxia) Shaanxi–Henan Hancheng Yumenkou Yellow River Bridge Ningxia Yinchuan Yellow River Bridge (Yinchuan) Inner Mongolia Baotou Yellow River Bridge (Baotou) Gansu Lanzhou Yellow River Bridge Zhongshan Bridge (Lanzhou) Qinghai Dari Yellow River Bridge Aquaculture Although Yellow River is generally less suitable for aquaculture than the rivers of central and southern China, such as the Yangtze or the Pearl River, aquaculture is practiced in some areas along the Yellow River as well. An important aquaculture area is the riverside plain in Xingyang City, upstream from Zhengzhou. Since the development of fish ponds started in Xingyang's riverside Wangcun Town in 1986, the pond systems in Wangcun have grown to the total size of 15,000 mu (10 km2), making the town the largest aquaculture center in North China.[31] A variety of the Chinese softshell turtle popular with China's gourmets is called the Yellow River Turtle (黄河鳖). Now-a-days most of Yellow River Turtles eaten in China's restaurants comes from turtle farms, which may or may not be located near the actual Yellow River. In 2007, construction started in Wangcun 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.[32] Pollution See also: Water pollution in China On 25 November 2008, Tania Branigan of The Guardian filed a report "China's Mother River: the Yellow River", claiming that severe 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.[33] The Yellow 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 the criteria used by the UN 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?] Yellow River in culture In ancient times, it was believed that the Yellow River flowed from Heaven as a continuation of the Milky 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 a girl spinning and a cow herd. Upon asking the girl where he was, she presented him with her shuttle with instructions to show it to the astrologer Yen Chün-p'ing. 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 a wandering star interpose itself between the Weaving Girl and the cow herd (Altair).[34] The provinces of Hebei and Henan derive their names from the Yellow River. Their names mean, respectively, "North of the River" and "South of the River". 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 long history of China, the Yellow River has been considered a blessing as well as a curse and has been nicknamed both "China's Pride" (simplified Chinese: 中国的骄傲; traditional Chinese: 中國的驕傲; pinyin: Zhōngguóde Jiāo'ào) and "China's Sorrow"[35] (simplified Chinese: 中国的痛; traditional Chinese: 中國的痛; pinyin: Zhōngguóde Tòng). When the Yellow River flows clear. Sometimes the Yellow River is poetically called the "Muddy Flow" (simplified Chinese: 浊流; traditional Chinese: 濁流; pinyin: 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". "The Yellow River running clear" was reported as a good omen during the reign of the Yongle Emperor, along with the appearance of such auspicious legendary beasts as qilin (an African giraffe brought to China by a Bengal embassy aboard Zheng He's ships in 1414) and zouyu (not positively identified) and other strange natural phenomena.[36] |
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