The Yellow River

黄河 huang he

The Yellow River also known as HuangHe which is the literal pronunciation of it, is one of the longest rivers in China and is the sixth longest river in the world at 5464 km. It flows from Qinghai Province and empties into the Bohai sea. It also passes through 9 provinces including Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Henan, Luoyang and Shandong. It was named after the yellow colour of the river water, which is caused by the loess that is accumulated in the water.Loess is made up of silt that has been wind-blown to form a mound and has a chalky texture.

The Yellow river is known as 'The Cradle of Chinese Civilisation', 'The Spiritual Home of the Chinese People', and 'The Mother River of Northern China' because the Chinese people believe that the River's spirit watches over the people and care for them. It has been given this name because it was the location of where the Ancient Northern Chinese Civilisation originated. It was also given the name 'The Precocious Civilisation' because the civilisation was very advanced, especially in agriculture and technology.They believe that the river symbolises them and their nation, however it was also given the name 'China's sorrow' because of its flooding which have affected the residents. The river's flooding is caused by the riverbed that is more elevated in the lower regions of the river. In the past, the flooding has caused deaths, crops to fail, etc. However, the flooding of the river led them to think of ways to use the flooding to their advantage, so they created their own river system. Even though their system wasn't as advanced as other civilisations, their crops grew quite successfully, and the people became more wealthy. The flooding also led to the people to work harder and to become more organised.

BY TIFFANY HONG