YELLOW RIVER: SOURCE, ROUTE, MOUTH, FLORA - GEOGRAPHY - 2024

The Yellow River, also known as the Huang He River, is located in west central China. It rises in the Bayan Har Mountains and flows east, northeast, east, south and back northeast to empty into the Bohai Sea, which is part of the North Pacific Ocean.

It has a length of 5,464 km and covers an average hydrographic basin of 750,000 km ², this makes it the sixth longest river in the world, third in the Asian continent and second within the country.

The Huang He flows into the Bohai Sea. Colegota

Birth, route and mouth

The upper course of the river extends from its source at approximately 4,500 meters above sea level, in the mountainous region of Bayan Har, through the eastern plateau of Tibet. It reaches the town of Hekou, in Mongolia, and returns to the south. This route is considered to comprise 3,472 km of the total river, which still conserves its crystal clear waters.

Then it enters the intermediate zone, from Hekou to the city of Zhengzhou, traveling around 1,206 km long and increasing its flow by 43% thanks to the tributaries that end there. In this section the river receives 92% of the sediments that it carries along the rest of its course.

Finally, the lower reaches of the river, traveling the last 782 km from the city of Zhengzhou to its meeting with the Bohai Sea in Laizhou Bay, in the territory of the Pacific Ocean. This is the path where the greatest amount of flooding is recorded.

Main cities that travels

Since its source, the river runs through the Chinese provinces of Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Henan, Shandong, and the autonomous regions of Ningxia and Mongolia. Within these provinces, the cities Lanzhou, Yinchuan, Hohhot, Zhengzhou and Jinan stand out for their size, development and number of inhabitants.

Lanzhou

The city of Lanzhou, a center for the study of Buddhism between the 5th and 11th centuries, an important site for caravans on the renowned Silk Road, is the capital of Gansu province and today has a little more than 3 million y average population in an area of ​​13,300 km ².

There is a very varied economic activity within the province referring to the petrochemical industry, the refinery, textile and agricultural production, as well as the exploitation of various minerals.

Yinchuan

The city of Yinchuan, although it barely gathers around 2.5 million inhabitants, stands out for the government's ambition to turn it into a technologically advanced model city, seeking to consolidate it as an attraction for future residents.

The proposal is to carry out a technological transformation that makes life easier for citizens in all areas. In total, around 20 million human beings live on the banks of the river.

Tributaries

There are 17 main tributaries of the Yellow River and each has different lengths. Among the most prominent are the Wei, considered the largest tributary with 818 km; the Ejin with 821 km, the Fen with 694 km, the Qin with 485 km, the Luo with 420 km and the Huangshui with 374 km.

characteristics

Discovery

It has been confirmed, according to the respective studies, that since the Pleistocene the Huang He River has kept flowing, and the movement of plates may have originated its appearance. This natural resource has changed its course over time, due to erosion.

In a remote past, thousands of years ago, the inhabitants of the banks of the central and lower zone of the river believed that this was the center of the universe, which is why they called it "central plain", "central country" or "country central of the Hua ”. Archaeological finds prove that Chinese civilization was born on the banks of this river.

At first, since the Neolithic period, it is known that the inhabitants of this region lived by hunting, fishing and gathering, dividing themselves into three main tribes: that of Emperor Chiyou, that of Emperor Huang and that of Emperor Yan. These last two joined forces to fight Emperor Chiyou, so they also got mixed up.

The descendants of the Huang and Yan tribes gave rise to the Xia, Zhou and Shang dynasties, so today, the successors consider Yan and Huang as their direct ancestors, calling themselves heirs of Huang Yan or HuaXia.

Because the ethnographic movement was centered in this area of ​​the Huang He River for many years, so was the political, cultural and economic power, from which they made great contributions to humanity.

Coloration

The yellowish coloration of the river is due to the amount of sediment that falls into it and that it carries along a large part of its channel until it reaches Bohai Bay. It is the river with the highest sediment load on the planet, reaching 34 kg for each cubic meter of water.

Such an amount of silt comes from the erosion of the area through which the river runs without counterweights, only the dams built along its route have been able to help contain it, however, year after year, the country's continental extension grows thanks to the sediments deposited in the mentioned bay.

In some stretches of the river, work has been done to help stop the floods, registered since ancient times.

Such overflows occur because its channel rises above ground level due to the amount of sediment it deposits, a unique case in the world. The river's drainage basin is the third largest in China, discharging 2,571 km3 per second into the sea.

Contamination

Some studies published since 2003, show high levels of contamination of the Yellow River or Huang He. In 2008, at least 33.8% of the river's water was contaminated at a level not suitable for consumption or for daily human activities such as washing, bathing or for use in irrigation.

During the previous year, more than 4,000 tons of waste were dumped along the river, among which are industrial waste; In addition, in some passages a considerable drop in flow can be registered at least during the summer, factors that affect the delicate balance of this ecosystem.

Only 16% of the waters of this river are considered drinkable, and they are mainly located in the upper section, so in 2012 the Chinese government sought alliances with European entities to solve the levels of contamination of the river.

Relevant historical data

The settlement on the banks of the Huang He, the stability that it provided to its inhabitants during the different dynasties throughout the centuries, combined with the desire for research and curiosity of the Chinese, allowed this civilization to achieve great technological advances than the Westerners they were discovering centuries late.

Thus, among many other inventions, some related to life near the river banks were the fishing reel, the rudder, the watermills were implanted two thousand years before any other people did, and the compass, about 1,100 years before any European ship used one.

Other great and important inventions were possible thanks to the environmental conditions caused by the proximity to the river.

The paper saw the light when an imperial adviser, after countless trials, found that the mulberry bark and the bamboo fiber with water allowed to lower the cost of the material on which it was written, it was also much more practical and it was better preserved.

Comercial activity

Dams abound along the river in order to take advantage of its strength and flow to provide hydroelectric energy to different areas. In some sections the aquifer activity is conducive. Until 2010 there were 16 dams and hydroelectric plants.

In many of the capitals located on its banks, the water from the natural giant is made drinkable for human consumption. It has also been used for irrigation systems of large agricultural areas, which cover 15% of national production and is managed in the industrial system established in the region. In 2005, a fishing production of 2.87 million tons was recorded.

This has resulted in the river sometimes accidentally suffering from human oversights that have caused the discharge of toxic chemicals, putting the lives of any species at risk.

Importance

In the collective memory of the inhabitants of the cities and towns settled on its banks, the Yellow River is called "mother river", "pride of china" and "pain of china", since it is part of its history since the beginning of his people for better and for worse, as evidenced by different archaeological finds. It is believed that thanks to her the development and emergence of their civilization was possible.

In fact, if the river were to suffer irreversible cases of pollution or drought, it would cause an economic and social imbalance, since it could generate high migration to other already densely populated cities such as Beijing or Peking.

Flora and fauna

At present, the fauna of the river has diminished mainly due to changes caused by humans, although previously more than 150 species could be counted along the river, today the most common fish are still the Silurus lanzhouensis, the Psephurus gladius or the Gymnocypris eckloni, which can still be found in the upper reaches of the river.

Similarly, with regard to mammals, the habitat was home to leopards and deer. Among the birds are the European pigeon (Haliaeetusalbicilla), the Chinese serreta (Mergussquamatus) and the great bustard (Otis dela).

On its way, the river crosses different geographical areas, a good part of it between desert mountainous sections, narrow cliffs, gorges between the mountains and through the valleys of the central plateaus, hills and meadows until it ends in the delta that grows every year.

References

1. Huanghe (Yellow River): The Mother River of Chinese Civilization, Confucius Institute Readers Club article, taken from confuciomag.com.
2. Yellow River, Encyclopedia Britannica article, taken from britannica.com.
3. Huang He RiverBasin, WatchWater and Global Change article, taken from waterandclimatechange.eu.
4. Yellow River: living history of China, article of Actualidad en China, taken from perezvitola.com.
5. Only 16 percent of the waters of the Yellow River are free of pollution, europapress article, taken from europapress.es.
6. Yinchuan: the Chinese city where your face is your credit card, Expansión article, taken from expansion.mx.