Yellow River

alternative Yellow river

1. The chief river of the North China Plain, the second-longest river in China and sixth-longest river system on Earth, historically prone to massive floods which repeatedly drastically changed its course; it passes through Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan and Shandong provinces as well as Ningxia and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Regions.

   FOR MORE THAN 2,000 years, a branch of the Silk Road — the 600-mile-long Hexi Corridor — has angled southeast from the Taklamakan and Gobi deserts to the Yellow River loess plains.

   2020 May 11, Anna Sherman, “A Poetic Journey Through Western China”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 11 May 2020

   5 more examples

   That Riuer of Nanquin which I called (Yamſu or) Ianſu, the ſonne of the Sea, goeth Northward to Nanquin, and then returning ſomewhat Southward, runneth into the Sea with great force; fortie myles from which it paſſeth by Nanquin. And that from hence to Pequin there might bee paſſage by Riuers, the Kings of China haue deriued a large Channell from this to another Riuer, called the Yellow Riuer, ſuch being the colour of that troubled water. This is the other famous Riuer of that Kingdome, in greatneſſe and note, which ariſesth without the Kingdome to the Weſt, out of the Hill Cunlun, conjectured to bee the ſame whence Ganges ariſeth, or one neere to it.

   1625, [Samuel] Purchas, “A Generall Collection and Historical Representation of the Iesuites Entrance into Iapon and China, vntill Their Admission in the Royall Citie of Nanquin”, in Purchas His Pilgrimes. […], 3rd part, London: […] William Stansby for Henrie Fetherstone, […], →OCLC, 2nd book, § V, page 340

   Firſt of all, There are in China two famous large Rivers, namely Kiang, and the Yellow River... The Yellow River, by ſtrangers ſo called from the colour of the water, occaſioned by the Yellowneſs of the ground, is named Hoang in the Chineſe Language, and ſeems at firſt to be very Mooriſh; but the ſwiftneſs and great force of its running, makes it appear the quite contrary; for with ſo incredible a ſwiftneſs does this River run, that no Ships are able to Sail up againſt its Stream, but are drawn up againſt the ſame by the main ſtrength of a great number of Track-men: which may proceed from its being contracted within ſo narrow bounds; for in ſome places it is but half a mile broad, and in others a little broader, but in a continued courſe, for in length it extends above 800 miles.

   1669, John Nievhoff, translated by John Ogilby, An Embassy from the Eaſt-India Company of the United Provinces, to the Grand Tartar Cham Emperour of China, London: John Macock, →OCLC, pages 235–236

   After passing a short stage, through low lands with very different prospects, a succession of good towns and villages, numerous vessels, and crowds of people, indicated the vicinity of the Yellow River, into which the canal falls with a gentle force. November 2d, the yachts came to the spot where the canal joins the Yellow River. The Yellow River runs at this place with such rapidity that the Chinese sailors deemed it necessary to offer a sacrifice to its Guardian Spirit for a safe passage.

   1798, Complete View of the Chinese Empire, London, page 400

   As we rode slowly over the Lunghai Line toward Sianfu, across the brown sun-baked plains of Northern Honan, soon to be flooded when the Chinese breached the Yellow River dikes to stop the advancing Yellow Horde, we passed many troop trains en-route to the front.

   1941, Edgar Snow, The Battle for Asia, New York: Random House, page 26

   China's Yellow River, or Huang he, is named for the yellow, sandy silt it carries in its water. This silt, called loess, is almost as fine as flour. Over thousands of years, the northwestern wind blowing from the Gobi Desert has deposited hundreds of feet of loess over northern China. As the Yellow River flows through China, it sweeps away the fine, yellow silt and carries it downriver.

   2001, Kim Dramer, The Yellow River, Franklin Watts, →ISBN, page 7

   Synonyms: Huang He, Huang Ho, Hwang Ho, China's Sorrow

1. Alternative letter-case form of Yellow River.

   The wild tribes of the Huai brought oyster-pearls and fish, and their baskets were full of dark embroideries and pure white silken fabrics. You float along the Huai and Szŭ and so reach the Yellow river.

   1895, Herbert J. Allen, “Ssŭma Chʻien's Historical Records”, in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 97

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   In Northwestern China, a great range crosses the Yellow river, in its course between Shansi and Shensi, and trending N. E. by E., connects the mountain knot of Northwestern Sz'chuen with that of the Ourang daban north of the Tushïkau gate of the Great Wall. Nearly parallel to this is another range which, beginning west of Singan (fu), crosses the Yellow river, forming the Lungmun gorge, and traversing, obliquely, the centre of Shansi, gradually approaches the other range in northern Chihli.

   1866 October, Raphael Pumpelly, Geological Researches in China, Mongolia, and Japan: During the Years 1862-1865, Washington City: Smithsonian Institution, →OCLC, page 2

   All but one of these major fluvial lowlands is alluvial and aggradational in nature. The largest by far is the North China plain, largely the product of the Yellow river, the Huang, and sometimes known as the Yellow plain.

   1969, Joseph Kitagawa, editor, Understanding Modern China, Quadrangle Books, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 52