Yellow River yellow river. Yellow River: how the name of the Yellow River is translated

The Yellow River, or Yellow River, along with the Yangtze, is one of the greatest rivers in China. It flows into the Yellow Sea, which belongs to the Pacific Ocean. The waters of the river, due to the huge amount of silt in it, have a yellowish tint and color the coastal area of ​​the sea the same color. Europeans called it the Yellow River.

The length of China's second main artery is 4845 km. She is among the most long rivers of the Asian continent and ranks sixth among other rivers globe. At the same time, in terms of its drainage basin area, which is only 771 thousand km2, it cannot be considered one of the greatest rivers in the world. But the Yellow River is rightfully considered one of the most muddy rivers in the world. While the Nile carries only 0.9 kg/m3 of silt, and the Colorado - 7.7 kg/m3, during floods of the Yellow River, an average of 35–40 kg of fertile layer settles over a large area. There is evidence according to which this figure reached 544 kg per 1 m3. In addition, about 1,500 tons of silt are washed into the sea every year. Geographers explain such high figures by the rapidity of the river, which practically does not lose speed even when crossing large irrigation systems on the plain. Because of this, the silt does not have time to settle at the bottom of the river.

The Yellow River originates in the eastern part of the Tibetan Plateau, approximately 161 km west of Lake Jarin Nur (Gyaring Tso).

Flowing through the Hetao Plain, through the Loess Plateau and the Great Chinese Plain, the river flows into the Bohai Bay of the Yellow Sea, forming a small delta here.

Descending through rapids and deep gorges, the Yellow River breaks through from the Tibetan Plateau onto the desert plains of Inner Mongolia and through the Loess Plateau rushes to the alluvial plains of the Ordos Desert, where it slows down. Having chosen the southern direction, the Yellow River again high speed rushes into narrow gorges in order to, turning again to the east, cross the eastern spurs of the Qinling ridge and, passing through Sanmenxia (Three Gate Gorge), slow down its run on the Great Chinese Plain. Here the Yellow River floods widely, and in some places the river level is 3 m above the surface of the plain.

This area, nicknamed the critical area by geographers, is most susceptible to periodic floods of the unruly river. However, on the banks of the Yellow River there are such settlements as the administrative center of Gansu province Lanzhou (Gaolan) and the large metallurgical city of Baotou, and in the Yellow River valley are Zhengzhou and Jinan.

Translated from Chinese, Yellow River means “grief of the sons of Khan.” This name truly reflects the nature of the river: periods of relative calm are replaced by floods that bring grief to the people living in the valley. The river seems to remind: “Don’t expect a quiet life from me.”

Yellow River

Scientists have found that over the past 2000 years, the Yellow River has overflowed its banks and eroded dams more than 1000 times. At least 20 times she managed to change the trajectory of her bed. According to some sources, from 1048 to 1324 it flowed into Bohai Bay, located north of the Shandong Peninsula. Then, connecting with the Huaihe River, the Yellow River carried its waters into the Yellow Sea south of the peninsula, and in 1851 the beds of these rivers diverged again, and the Yellow River found refuge in Bohai Bay. Its fertile valleys were inhabited by people in ancient times, however frequent floods with dam breaks and channel movements reaching 800 km, forced the Chinese to follow the tricky river over large territories. They continued to settle on the banks of the Yellow River, because after the annual floods, fertile silt remained on the soil, which was an excellent fertilizer.

People began making their first attempts to regulate the river's flow about 3,000 years ago, when Chinese civilization arose in the Yellow River basin. They built sand embankments and dams. Information about this has been preserved in numerous Chinese legends. The most famous is the legend of folk hero Yue, who straightened the river bed and saved the inhabitants from the annual floods.

But in reality, all the actions of the Chinese yielded little result. The reason is that the construction of these dams increased the likelihood of devastating floods, since the area of ​​sediment accumulation was limited only to the river bed. The gradual accumulation of silt deposits forced the construction of ever higher dams, as a result of which the river and ramparts were higher than the level of the adjacent plain. Summer floods, accompanied by a dam break and river overflow, became natural disaster: gigantic territories with crops were under water.

In 1938, the dams built on the right bank were destroyed by order of the head of the Kuomintang regime, Chiang Kai-shek, who sought to prevent the advance of the Japanese army. In 1947, as part of a UN project, the Yellow River was returned to its original channel leading to Bohai Bay.

The Great Canal, about 1,782 km long, connects the Yellow River with the Yangtze River and the major seaports of Tianjin and Shanghai. This waterway that is creation human hands, originates in Beijing and stretches to Hangzhou. Its construction began in the 5th century BC. e. Workers carried out deepening and clearing work. For a long time, the Grand Canal was an important transport route; and today the movement of large ships along the southern section of the Grand Canal is still possible.

As for the river itself, navigation on it has been difficult since ancient times due to the rapid and turbulent current. The waterway was possible only for a short section of 161 km (in the lower reaches). The construction of a dam near the city of Lanzhou, and the emergence as a result of these works of a huge reservoir and hydroelectric power station in the Sanmenxia Gorge, producing 1 million kilowatt-hours of electricity, increased the length of shipping routes to 790 km.

The area of ​​the Sanmenxiang Sea is 2350 km2, its water volume is 35 km3, and its length is about 300 km. This hydraulic structure, designed to generate electricity, irrigate land and improve navigation, effectively combats even the most powerful floods. It is currently planned to begin construction of new dams designed to increase the number of navigable sections both on the Yellow River itself and on some of its tributaries.

Thus, since 1955, the Chinese government has been trying to implement the so-called. a stepwise plan for regulating the Yellow River, involving the construction of 4 large and 42 auxiliary dams on main river and the water arteries flowing into it. Large-scale government programs are complemented by numerous local projects involving the construction of small dams on small rivers, terracing of loess hillsides and planting of forests to prevent soil erosion.

| |

The Yellow River is one of the most powerful and deepest rivers in the world. It was on its banks that Chinese civilization arose in ancient times. The river ranks 6th in length on the planet. The water system of the Yenisei River overtook it in this parameter: Ider, Selenga, Angara, Yenisei. The length of the waterway of this formation is 5539 km. The Yellow River is 5464 km long. It is ahead of the Ob-Irtysh water system, whose length is 5410 km.

Yellow River

Source of the mighty river is located on the Bayar-Khara mountain range. He belongs mountain system Kunlun and is located on the border of Qinghai Province and the Tibet Autonomous Region or Prefecture. Source coordinates: 34° 29′ 31.1″ N. w. And 96° 20′ 24.6″ in. d. The height of the source above sea level is 4500 meters.

The mountain stream moves to the southeast and meets Lake Tsarin on its way. It's pretty large body of water. Its length is 35 km and width 15 km. The lake is located at an altitude of 4292 meters above sea level. Next comes Lake Noreen. Its length is 32.3 km, width 18.9 km. The height above sea level reaches 4268 meters.

All these vast lands are territory national reserve, called “The Source of Three Rivers.” In addition to the Yellow River, the Yangtze and Mekong rivers also begin their journey in this area. The latter is 4500 km long. The Yangtze flows through the southern regions of Eastern China, and the Yellow River flows through the northern regions. On its way it crosses the provinces: Qinghai, Gansu, autonomous region Ningxia, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Shaanxi, Henan, Shandong. In the latter province, the river flows into the Bohai Gulf of the Yellow Sea.

Yellow River on the map of China

There are many large cities located on the Yellow River. Lanzhou with a population of 3.6 million inhabitants. Yinchuan with a population of 2 million inhabitants. Wuhai with a population of 430 thousand inhabitants. Baotou has a population of 1.8 million inhabitants. Luoyang with a population of 660 thousand inhabitants. Zhengzhou with a population of 8.6 million inhabitants. Kaifeng with a population of 5 million inhabitants. Jinan with a population of 2.6 million inhabitants. The mouth of the river is located in Dongying Prefecture, which has city status.

The path of the great river is loopy and winding. In the upper reaches, the river “cuts through” the Tibetan Plateau. The turbulent stream crosses pastures, hills, swamps, and then enters the plains of Northern China. The water in the upper reaches is crystal clear.

In Gansu Province, the Yellow River is sandwiched between two high banks of a long gorge. The riverbed becomes narrow, fast and stormy. These places are ideal for the construction of hydroelectric power stations. Leaving behind a gorge, the river immediately falls into another. There are 20 of them in total. They end in plains and meadows. Here the river flow becomes slow. The flat area is 900 km long and 30-50 km wide. Since ancient times, people have been engaged in agriculture and digging irrigation canals on these lands.

In its middle course, the Yellow River flows through Inner Mongolia and Henan Province. It falls into it, forming the border between the provinces of Shaanxi and Shanxi. This is about 1200 km of waterway with an area of ​​344 thousand square meters. km. The elevation difference is 890 meters. 30 large tributaries flow into the river. It is in the middle course that the clear waters of the great river begin to acquire a yellowish tint due to silt and other river sediments. This is where the name came from. After all, the Yellow River means “yellow river” in Chinese.

Bridge over the Yellow River

This area of ​​the area is called the Loess Plateau. It is characterized by the most fertile soils, which are found nowhere else in the country. Gentle hills abound here, but there are also ridges. Soil is characterized by erosion. Therefore, long, deep ravines are common in these places. The length of some of them reaches 5 km with a depth of 150 meters.

Due to these soil characteristics, a huge amount of sediment gets into the water. Moreover, they are observed in all rivers, and not just in the Yellow River. People artificially terrace the hillsides and grow crops such as cotton, kaoliang, wheat, and millet on them.

At the bottom of the valley is Hukou Falls. It is the largest on the Yellow River. The width of the waterfall varies depending on the seasons of the year. Its usual width is 30 meters, and during the period of river flood it reaches 50 meters. The height of the waterfall is 20 meters. 3 km below the waterfall there is a huge rock. It divides the river into two channels. Very close to the waterfall there is a bridge connecting the provinces of Shaanxi and Shanxi. Hukou Falls is one of the 40 best and most picturesque places on the planet.

At Hukou Falls, yellow waters fall from a height of 20 meters

The lower reaches of the Yellow River measure 786 km. Mighty waters flow across the plains of Northern China and are hemmed in by dams on both sides. They prevent the area from flooding during spills. The drop in height in the lower reaches is 93.6 meters. On this section of the route, tributaries such as the Huai and Ai flow into the great river. Total area the lower reaches are 23 thousand square meters. km.

River sediments raise the river bed above the ground several meters. In the Kaifeng area, the Yellow River rises 10 meters above the ground. In the area where it flows into the Bohai Gulf of the Yellow Sea, the great river forms a delta. Its area is 8 thousand square meters. km. This area is mostly swampy. Huge flocks of birds gather there during wintering. In total, the delta is home to 1,542 species of different animals and 393 species of plants.

The Yellow River is very capricious. During the rainy season from July to October, it overflows and floods large areas. Often even dams built by people do not save. Thanks to floods, the great river changes its course. This happens once every 100 years. The maximum displacement of the channel is 800 km. The dams cannot tame the temper of the river due to the high silt load. All hope lies in the dams. They are systematically strengthened. Other measures are also planned aimed at “taming” the powerful, full-flowing stream.

Stanislav Lopatin

China

The Yellow River is a river flowing in China, passing through the entire territory of the People's Republic of China and extends to some other countries, it also flows in Mongolia. The Yellow River occupies a significant place in the entire nation of China, and yet many did not even know about the existence of such a river in China.

The Yellow River can rightfully be called the “mother” of the birth of the great Chinese nation. The Yellow River is something like the Nile River in Egypt. It was on the banks of this river that the first ancestors of today's Chinese originated. Actually, the Yellow River still occupies a leading role in the life and activities of China, but first things first. The Yellow River translated from Chinese sounds like “Yellow River”, so you can often find this name.

The question arises, why is the river yellow? This is a rare case when the name coincides with the very structure of the river. The river is called yellow precisely because it is dark yellow. Indeed, most sections of the Yellow River (there are extremely clean areas) are yellow, even brown. The river acquires this color thanks to the various sandstones through which it passes; due to the strong current, the river quickly erodes its bed, washing out the soil, which actually gives the river this color.

And the yellow plume extending far into the Yellow Sea, where the yellow river flows, can be seen several kilometers away.

Photo from space

Due to drifts carried with them, the river is quite dirty, and the water in it is mostly muddy. The Yellow River occupies a leading place among rivers carrying soil with it; annually the Yellow River carries 1.3 billion tons of various silt, sand and soil into the Yellow Sea. As you already understand, the mouth of the river is the Yellow Sea, and the source of the Yellow River comes from the Tibetan Plateau itself, at an altitude of 4,000 meters.

In terms of its length, the yellow river takes an honorable 6th place, its length is 5,464 km, although it is not a record holder, it is also very long. The river's drainage area is 752,000 km². The main tributaries are the rivers: Daxia, Tao, Weihe, Luohe. The river has a fairly fast current, with an average water flow of 2000 m³ per second.

Some of the largest cities in China are concentrated along the banks of the Yellow River, such as: Lanzhou, Yinchuan, Baotou, Luoyang, Zhengzhou, Kaifeng, Jinan. The Yellow River is the main waterway of some of China's rapidly developing rural areas. Also water resources the yellow river is used as drinking water, as well as for industrial purposes. A number of large hydroelectric power stations are concentrated in the most intense sections of the river.

The river has a wide industrial character. Some sections of the river are even used for navigation, but this is only a small part, because the river as a whole is not suitable for movement. Unfortunately, the productive use of the river also entails intense pollution. The situation in the river in 2005 was such that most of the waters of the Yellow River are not suitable even for irrigation agriculture. This is the result of numerous waste emissions from industrial enterprises and cities that are actively growing near the river.

No matter how many people there were, they didn’t try to adapt surrounding nature to his interests, he still will not achieve complete submission. This happened with the Yellow River in China. The fact is that along the entire length of the river there are protective dams; they were built to contain water in the riverbed during floods. The river has a monsoon regime and the river waters can sometimes rise up to 20 meters in height.

Over the entire history of the life of the formidable Yellow River, 26 changes in the river bed have been recorded, and even more dam breaks - 1,573 times the water overflowed their limits! The next water breakthrough or dam destruction inevitably entails dire consequences. With every water spill, the impending disaster claims the lives of millions of people.

The first mentioned river flood, with subsequent changes, the river destroyed the entire Qin Dynasty. And the flood of 1887 killed approximately 2 million people. The last disaster occurred in 1938, when the Chinese authorities deliberately broke the dams to stop the advance of Japanese troops. As a result of this flood, about 900 thousand civilians died.

And before this spill there was another one, in 1931, then between 1,000,000 and 4 million people died. The fact is that the river, with its flow, constantly washes away soil and carries it with it; in some especially polluted areas, natural dams are created, which subsequently leads to flooding. Another reason may be the annual melting of ice. Ice forms ice jams that prevent the rest of the water from passing through, resulting in flooding. Today, the Chinese government is doing an excellent job of managing the river bed and preventing all possible floods.

March 5, 2014

The Yellow River is famous throughout the world. This deep river is the real pride of China, but at the same time forces the inhabitants of the Celestial Empire to live in constant readiness to the surprises that the Yellow River can present at any moment.

Yellow River - the cradle of the nation

According to legend, the Yellow River was the basis of the entire Chinese civilization. The great Chinese culture arose on its banks and in the river valley. The Great River received its second name due to the presence in its waters of sandy-yellow silt, which washes up in the plains.

The length of the river is almost five thousand kilometers. The Yellow River flows into the Yellow Sea.
The source of the river is high in the mountains, at an altitude of 4 thousand meters. The river's path lies across the Great Chinese Plain.

Yellow River - the turbulent river

The steep character of the river is manifested in its unexpected floods and sudden changes in its bed. Over several thousand years, more than two dozen cases have been noted when the Yellow River deviated from its usual route and merged with neighboring rivers.

How do you like a river that can flow into the sea from a completely different direction? Almost 800 kilometers - this is the largest deviation of the riverbed during the war with Japan. Then the cause of the disaster was the destruction of the dams. By the way, there are several of them on the river.
Dams and restrictions stretch along the Yellow River for five thousand kilometers.

Unusual property of the Yellow River

In many places along the river you can see a rather strange sight. Sections of the riverbed rise above the surrounding plain. Sometimes the difference in levels reaches almost 10 meters. The culprit is yellow silt, the deposits of which over centuries have formed a huge and thick layer and settle on the banks. Muddy water can splash out and spill at any moment, bringing grief to people and flooding everything around.

The state is making a lot of efforts to keep the restive river under control.

The Yellow River is a great, powerful, amazing landmark. Everyone who visits China notes the special attractiveness of the river, despite its muddy waters. It always evokes a reverent feeling of admiration for the forces of nature.

Yellow River photo

HUANG HE – “CHINA’S TRAVEL”

This is what local residents called the Yellow River for many centuries. The Chinese name translates as “Grief of the Khan’s sons,” which indicates frequent floods. Over the past four thousand years, the river has broken through dams more than one and a half thousand times, flooding agricultural lands and entire villages. As a result, tens of millions of people died, as many went missing, and material damage amounted to hundreds of billions of dollars.

According to UNESCO statistics, about 200 thousand people have died from river floods over the past 20 years (not counting victims of floods caused by tropical cyclones). Rivers of disaster include the Amazon in Brazil, the Amur in Russia, the Arno and Po in Italy, the Ganges and Brahmaputra in India, the Mississippi and Missouri in the USA, and the Yangtze and Yellow River in China.

One of the main water arteries China - the Yellow River - is called the “River of a Thousand Sorrows”. It changed its course more than 20 times, flowing either into the Bohai Bay, then into the Yellow Sea south of the Shandong Peninsula, and even into the East China Sea - in the area of ​​​​the current mouth of the Yangtze. At the same time, the water flooded fields and villages, killed people and livestock, and gave rise to epidemics and famine. At the same time, she is called “Mother River” because she is the breadwinner for millions of peasants, gives new life fields: the water receding after a spill leaves a significant part of the most fertile loess (silt) collected upstream. After all, each ton of loess contains a significant amount of nitrogen, phosphorus and calcium. The Yellow River is one of the siltiest rivers in the world, carrying about 50 pounds of silt per cubic yard of water. During a spill, the current can carry up to 544 kg of sludge per cubic yard, which is approximately 70% of its volume. The river carries about one and a half thousand tons of loess into the Yellow Sea annually. The color of the water gave it another name – the Yellow River.

From its upper reaches, the Yellow River brings up to 400 million tons of silt and sand to the Great Chinese Plain annually. As a result, in the lower reaches of the “River of Sorrow” the river rises, and it seems to hang over the surrounding area. Currently, the height of the river bed above the surrounding plain in some places reaches three to five meters. On average, its rise increases by 10 cm per year. In addition, the river bed narrows due to silt, which entails a decrease in its bandwidth and leads to an increase in catastrophic floods.

The source of many Chinese tragedies originates in the eastern part of Tibet at an altitude of 4.5 thousand meters above sea level, approximately 161 km west of Lake Jarin Hyp (Gyaring Tso). From here the Yellow River begins its 5463 km long journey to the Yellow Sea. This is the fourth longest river in Asia, although its drainage basin with an area of ​​979 thousand km 2 ranks only seventh in the world. The route of the river in the upper reaches for 1175 km runs along sparsely populated areas China. It descends along rapids and deep gorges and breaks out from the Tibetan Plateau onto the desert plains of Inner Mongolia. Then it flows through the Loess Plateau, the Ordos Desert, the eastern spurs of the Qin Liying ridge and finally reaches the expanses of the Great Chinese Plain. Here, due to a layer of silt deposited over thousands of years, the river level is several meters higher than the level of the surrounding area. Therefore, people had to fence the riverbed on both sides with earthen ramparts, sometimes reaching a height of ten meters.

In July-October during the season monsoon rains When the flood comes, the maximum water flows in the river sometimes exceed low-water levels by 200 times! It is during this period that catastrophic floods occur. For example, in 2356 BC. e. The Yellow River overflowed its banks, a severe flood occurred, the river changed its course and began to flow into the Yellow Sea near the city of Tianjin. In 602 BC. e. There was an increase in the number of floods, which forced residents to build protective structures to pacify the unbridled temper of the “Mother River”. Without mechanisms and machines, hundreds of thousands of peasants with baskets on rocker arms carried soil and built a high dam. That year the formidable river changed its course again. By 69 BC. e. on the plain, a system of protective dams had already been created by millions of human hands. But the Yellow River, sweeping away everything in its path, continued to change direction. The peasants, practically with their bare hands, built new protective structures to replace the dams destroyed by the unruly elements.

In 1324, the river returned to its southern course, flooding millions of hectares of rice fields and gardens, dooming the local population to starvation. Once again it took the hellish work of millions of people to restore normal life. In 1332, one of the most catastrophic floods occurred, killing thousands of people and leaving millions of Chinese homeless. After it, a plague epidemic broke out, killing seven million people. Infection occurred, among other things, through dirty river water in which the corpses of people and animals floated. In 1851, after another flood, the river turned north and carried its waters along the modern bed. This resulted in the destruction of numerous villages, the death of thousands of peasants and livestock, the flooding of fields, gardens, and sources of clean drinking water. As a result, disease and hunger began among the population. In October 1887, a flood brought death to 900 thousand people (according to other sources, about two million people drowned and died of starvation). The waters of the Yellow River flooded 80 thousand km 2 of land, which is approximately equal to the entire territory of Austria. Many villages were buried under a layer of silt, about seven million people were left homeless, and thousands of people went missing.

In 1927, the Chinese invited foreign engineers to consult on issues of protection against dangerous water. One of them shared his impressions of the Yellow River: “There is obviously no other river in the whole world that brings so little benefit to people, given the dense population of the area through which it flows. Local residents can only partially protect themselves from its destructive activities. Even as a transport artery it does not have of great importance. This river more enemy than a helper." Despite modern dams, 1931 brought a huge number of victims - the disaster took 3.7 million human lives. The raging water, crushing all obstacles in its path, flooded settlements and rice fields, killed millions of livestock and left hundreds of thousands of families homeless. In 1933, about 4 million people suffered from the invasion of waters, 18 thousand drowned, over three thousand settlements found itself under water. More than 500 million cubic meters of land had to be moved by people in order to again force the river to flow along its designated channel and reclaim fertile lands from it. In June 1938, the tragedy occurred through the fault of the Chinese themselves. They directed the waters of the Yellow River from west to southeast in order to stop the advance of the Japanese invaders. The entire area, along with the enemy, was flooded, the river went to Pacific Ocean along its old channel. This cost the lives of half a million Chinese peasants, whose villages and fields disappeared under water, and their livestock died. This is the price Beijing paid for stopping the advance of the Japanese army.

By the time of the proclamation of the Chinese People's Republic October 1, 1949 general condition the nature of the country was deplorable. Only 8–9% of the area of ​​the entire territory remained forested; more than 1 million km 2 of soil was subject to erosion. But especially significant damage environment was inflicted during the “Great Leap Forward” and the “Cultural Revolution”. In those years, in order to quickly solve the food problem, the Beijing communist elite put forward the slogan: “Grain is the basis of foundations.” In accordance with this, not only the uncontrolled plowing of new lands began, but also the repurposing of many existing agricultural lands. In the steppes of Northwestern China and Inner Mongolia, millions of hectares of pasture were plowed for grain crops. In coastal areas, even fish spawning grounds were drained and sown with grain. Peasants were required to harvest two crops a year, although it takes eight to nine months to grow wheat there. Forests were cut down everywhere, even in the upper reaches of the Yangtze and Yellow River. This led to new disasters. In August 1950, as a result of the flood of the two main rivers of the People's Republic of China - the Yellow River and the Yangtze - about 500 people drowned and more than 10 million were left homeless. The disaster destroyed 890 thousand houses, and 5 million acres of agricultural land were under water. Approximately 4 million acres of land remained uncultivable throughout the growing season. Livestock production also suffered enormous damage.

The PRC government called on the local population to “curb the Yellow River” and developed a plan that included the construction of hydroelectric power stations, flood control spillways, irrigation canals, etc. In the first decades, the Yellow River Canal was built, connecting the Yellow River and Weihe, as well as the “People's Victory Canal.” To reduce the threat of flooding in the area, two spillways were built to drain excess water. To solve the problem of supplying electricity to industrial areas, prevent major floods, develop an irrigation system, improve navigation conditions and regulate runoff, the Sanmenxia hydroelectric power station was built. The second major hydraulic construction project on the Yellow River was the Liujiaxia hydroelectric power station. Hydroelectric power stations came into operation on many reservoirs, which significantly reduced the risk of floods - with the help of dams and spillways it was possible to regulate the flow of water.

But despite all the measures, the elements turned out to be stronger. In 1998, floods in the Middle Kingdom killed four thousand people, injured 40 million, and destroyed 5 million homes, as well as roads, bridges, railway embankments, power lines and communications. Total economic damage amounted to more than $36 billion. The government sent thousands of rescuers and army units to fight the disaster. On November 14, 2002, a project to strengthen flood control dams on the Yellow River was launched. In sections of the flow in the area of ​​​​the cities of Heze and Jinan, the total length is 128 km. But still, a year later a new disaster occurred. After heavy rains in September-October 2003 and the release wayward river and one of its tributaries, out of control, about 300 thousand people were forced to evacuate to safe areas. In Shanxi province alone, more than 20 thousand hectares of agricultural land and several villages were flooded as a result of the flood. This was already the fifth flooding in a year.

But here’s the paradox: despite the devastating seasonal floods, the Yellow River is the most large river in the world, subject to drying out. Lately Due to the high consumption for irrigation of rice paddies and gardens, an acute shortage of water in the Yellow River began to be felt. In 1972, for the first time, its waters did not reach the mouth for two weeks. In the next decade, the river in its lower reaches dried up several times, and since 1982 this began to happen every year. At the same time, the water-free period increased all the time. For example, in the dry summer of 1997, the lower reaches completely dried out for more than 140 days (according to other sources - for 226 days), leaving peasant plots without water. Every year, periods of drying up of the Yellow River became longer and longer, posing a threat to agricultural land. Crop failure, in turn, created hunger in millions of Chinese families.

This text is an introductory fragment. From the book Apostolic Christianity(1–100 AD) by Schaff Philip

Chapter VI. Great Tribulation Matthew 24:21

From the book Gumilyov, son of Gumilyov author Belyakov Sergey Stanislavovich

CHIMERA ON HUAN HE If “The Search for an Imaginary Kingdom” was a historical detective story, then “The Huns in China” is an ancient tragedy, where the role of ruthless and inexorable fate is played by the patterns discovered by Gumilev. The style, as always, reveals in Gumilev not only a scientist, but also

From the book Japan in the War of 1941-1945. [with illustrations] author Hattori Takushiro

From the book 100 famous disasters author Sklyarenko Valentina Markovna

HUANG HE - “CHINA'S MOURNING” This is what local residents called the Yellow River for many centuries. The Chinese name translates as “Grief of the Khan’s sons,” which indicates frequent floods. Over the past four thousand years, the river has broken through dams more than one and a half thousand times, with

From the book Ancient World author Ermanovskaya Anna Eduardovna

Kingdoms of China The valley of the Yellow River is wide and flat, in the spring its fertile lands are covered with green shoots, and in the summer they dry out under the scorching rays of the sun of Northern China. Anyang is located on the southern bank of the river. Through this modern provincial town passes

From the book History Ancient East author Avdiev Vsevolod Igorevich

Culture of China Chinese culture dates back to very ancient times. The surviving literary sources, mostly works of the so-called classical literature ancient China, allow us to trace the development of Chinese religion, philosophy,

From the book Folk traditions China author Martyanova Lyudmila Mikhailovna

History of China The history of China goes back 5000 years. China is the only country on earth where the continuity of state and culture has been preserved for four thousand years. The first Chinese dynasty is considered the Xia dynasty, the founder of which is traditionally considered

From the book Subedei. The horseman who conquered the universe author Zlygostev V. A.

Part four. Between Itil and Yellow River

From the book Japan in the War of 1941-1945. author Hattori Takushiro

2. A turn in policy towards the new government of China. Determining the main course for the capture of China During the course of the war, Japan began to increasingly manifest a desire to solve the Chinese problem as quickly as possible and direct all attention to the war with America

From the book The Chinese Empire [From the Son of Heaven to Mao Zedong] author Delnov Alexey Alexandrovich

Two Chinas (North - South) The history of the Celestial Empire for many years has been divided into the stories of its two parts - the North and the South, and it was quite possible for such a situation in which we would not now have a frighteningly united Far Eastern giant on the map. However, everything is in order (not everything,

From the book Policemen and Provocateurs author Lurie Felix Moiseevich

MOURNING FOR SUDEYKIN Sudeikin was buried in the church of the Mariinsky Hospital (now named after V.V. Kuibyshev, Liteiny, 56). Alexander III on the report on what happened he wrote: “I am terribly shocked and saddened by this news. Wanted notice for S. P. Degaev Of course, we were always afraid for

From the book Life of Constantine by Pamphilus Eusebius

CHAPTER 72. That, nourishing great sorrow in his soul, he was forced to shed tears, and, intending to go to the east, for this reason, abandoned his intention. So, return to me peaceful days and good nights so that I may finally find consolation in pure light and joy in

From the book The Long Shadow of the Past. Memorial culture and historical politics by Assman Aleida

author Kryukov Mikhail Vasilievich

Neolithic cultures in the Yellow River basin: problems of chronology The question of dating Neolithic monuments in China became the focus of attention of researchers soon after Y. Anderson discovered the first settlement with painted ceramics near the village of Yangshao (Henan). As

From the book Ancient Chinese: Problems of Ethnogenesis author Kryukov Mikhail Vasilievich

The problem of the origin of Neolithic cultures in the Yellow River basin Tying together all the currently known facts related to the origin of the Neolithic cultures of the central zone, it seems possible to put forward the following hypothesis (Map 5). V

From the book Russian Explorers - the Glory and Pride of Rus' author Glazyrin Maxim Yurievich

The fragmentation of China in 1921. China has become a fragmented land. Each district was ruled by a military ruler who was in constant war with