The Huang He (Yellow River), which originates in the Qinghai-Tibet Mountains and empties into the Yellow Sea, is known as the cradle of Chinese civilization. For over 7,000 years, its fertile valley (due to its loess soil) was a center of Neolithic culture, early dynasties (Xia, Shang, Zhou), and agriculture. However, it was frequently struck by devastating floods, earning it the nickname "China's Sorrow."
The major river of northern China, the Huang He (or Hwang Ho), is the country's second-longest river, after the Yangtze. It originates in the Tibetan Plateau and flows generally eastward, emptying into the Yellow Sea. Chinese historians routinely refer to the Huang He as the cradle of Chinese civilization. The river, its tributaries, and its valley have played an integral role in Chinese history for over 3,000 years. Along the middle and lower reaches of the river system, Chinese civilization and agriculture first developed, and the earliest capitals of the dynastic era, Anyang and Luoyang, were located there. Control of the river and its watershed provided a much-needed grain surplus for China's military and political expansion beginning with the Qin Dynasty (221–207 BC).
Huang He means "Yellow River." The river gets its color and name from the enormous volume of wind-blown yellow-brown silt, or loess, that enters the river in its middle reaches as it cuts through the Loess Plateau. This heavy silt load makes the lower reaches of the river vulnerable to devastating floods. For this reason, the Huang He is known as "China's sorrow" or "river of tears." Flood control and irrigation works have been built along the river for centuries, and dams, begun in the mid-1950s, also generate hydroelectric power.
One of the longest rivers in the world, the Huang He is 3,395 miles (5,464 kilometers) long. It drains an area of approximately 290,000 square miles (750,000 square kilometers). The river's course can be divided into two distinct sections—a mountainous upper course and a plain section, which is often further subdivided into middle and lower basins. The river's headwaters are located in western China, in the Kunlun Mountains of Qinghai Province. The middle course encompasses the river's course through the Ordos Desert and the Loess Plateau. The river forms a large bend, flowing first northeast, then east and south. Here, the Fen and Wei Rivers, its most important tributaries, join the Huang He. The river then turns sharply east.
The lower basin, beginning in northern Henan province, encompasses the Great North China Plain, which stretches to the sea, interrupted only by the hills of Shandong province. This plain has been cultivated and densely populated for thousands of years. The swampy delta begins about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the river's mouth at the Bohai, a gulf of the Yellow Sea. Over the centuries, the river's mouth has shifted many times, to points as far as 500 miles (800 kilometers) north and south of the Shandong peninsula.
At the heart of all the problems of river flow change, flooding, and water management is its extremely high silt content. The river has the highest silt content of any major river in the world, with each cubic foot of water carrying more than 2 pounds (0.9 kilograms) of silt. Some of the silt settles to the bottom and gradually accumulates in the riverbed. In some places, the riverbed is much higher than the surrounding plains, which can cause the river to flood or divert its flow to lower elevations.
The levee system that now lines almost the entire lower reaches of the river began before the 6th century BC. A levee is a mound or ridge built along a riverbank to prevent flooding. Unfortunately, on the Huang He River, its long-term effect only delayed flooding. By restricting river flow, over time, the levee caused silt deposits to raise the riverbed higher and higher.
When levees fail or are breached, floodwaters can inundate thousands of square miles of low-lying farmland and wreak havoc on the population. In Chinese history, major floods have occurred numerous times, and some of the most devastating, with accompanying famines, have killed more than a million people at once. After the southern embankment of the river broke in Hunan province in 1887, more than two million people died from drowning, starvation, or the ensuing epidemic. Modern flood control programs on the river include not only improved levees but also dams and projects to reduce erosion on the Loess Plateau—thus reducing the amount of silt carried by the river.
The high silt content of the Huang He River also limits the water's usefulness for navigation, power generation, urban consumption, and industry. In the early 21st century, a major construction project was initiated to divert water from the Yangtze River to the North China Plain. This extremely expensive and ambitious project was developed because the water available to this growing urban-industrial region from the Huang He River system was far below demand.