The Yellow River or Huang He / Hwang Ho is the second-longest river in China and the sixth-longest in the world at 5,464 kilometers . Originating in the Bayan Har Mountains in Qinghai Province in western China, it flows through nine provinces of China and empties into the Bohai Sea. The Yellow River basin has an east-west extent of 1900 km and a north-south extent of 1100 km . Total basin area is 752,443 km? .
The Yellow River is called "the cradle of Chinese civilization", as its basin is the birthplace of the northern Chinese civilizations and is the most prosperous region in early Chinese history. But frequent devastating flooding largely due to the elevated river bed in its lower course, has also earned it the unenviable name "China's Sorrow".
Early Chinese literature refers to the Yellow River simply as He , or "River". The first appearance of the name "Yellow River" is in the Book of Han written in the Western Han dynasty . The name "Yellow River" describes the perennial ochre-yellow colour of the muddy water in the lower course of the river. The yellow color comes from loess suspended in the water.
Sometimes the Yellow River is poetically called the "Muddy Flow" . The Chinese expression "when the Yellow River flows clear" is similar to the English expression "when pigs fly."
In Tibet, its name is "river of the peacock" .
Yellow river in culture
"Mother River"
The yellow river as depicted in Qing Dynasty Chinese landscape painting
Mother river, China's Sorrow
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" and "China's Sorrow" .
History of the changing Yellow river
Further information: List of natural disasters by death toll
The river is extremely prone to flooding
