Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Northern China
Two major geographical realities in China are the Yellow and
Yangtze (Yangzi) Rivers. The Yellow River flows through northern
China from the Qinghai and Tibetan Plateaus, gradually winding its
way down into Inner Mongolia and northern China, through the
North China Plain, and thence to the Yellow Sea. The Yellow River gets
its name from the rich, yellowish-brown soil called loess that it carries
in suspension along its course. This fertile soil is deposited on the
North China Plain, making it an eminently suitable place for agricul-
ture. The North China Plain is, in fact, the birthplace of Chinese
civilization.
The Yellow River is both a blessing and a curse to China. Its greatest
benefit is, of course, the water and fertile soil it carries. At the same
time, the very loess that makes agriculture possible also creates its
own hazards. It is so abundant and heavy that the river is constantly
depositing. Over thousands of years the Yellow River has created its
own beds and channels on the accumulated loess, and these are often
higher than the surrounding countryside. The loess banks at the edges
of the river form natural dikes that hold the river in its course. These
dikes, however, are weak and historically have broken every few dec-
ades, and the resultant floodwaters have inundated millions of acres of
prime farmland. Historically the floods continued until the river cre-
ated another channel for itself. Yellow River course changes have been
so dramatic that the river has flowed into the Yellow Sea from both the
northern and the southern sides of the Shandong Peninsula. Whenever
the dikes break, hundreds of thousands of people are literally flooded
out of house and home, and famine and pestilence are the usual
results. For over 2,000 years, Chinese governments have been con-
cerned with shoring up and repairing these dikes so that they do not
break and disrupt the agricultural cycle. In premodern or “imperial”
China the competence of some governments was measured in part
by how well they maintained the Yellow River's dikes. In addition to
these hazards, the Yellow River is not navigable by large boats because
it is too shallow, swift, and full of sandbars. It is also not a particularly
attractive or picturesque river. For all of these reasons, the Yellow is
sometimes known as “China's Sorrow.” Like the Tigris and Euphrates
Rivers in Mesopotamia, the Yellow seems poised to bring both abun-
danceandcalamity.Today,however,thatcalamityislargelyoneof
scarcity, not overabundance. For the past few years the waters of the
Yellow River have been completely utilized by agricultural and indus-
try before the river empties into the sea!
