by April Song

Created on: November 02, 2011   Last Updated: November 07, 2011

The Yellow River, which is also called Huang He, is the second-longest river in China, and the sixth-longest river in the world. Since it flows through loess plateau and carries so much sand in its waters, it presents a color of yellow. Therefore, people gave it the name of “The Yellow River”. The Yellow River is the cradle of Chinese Civilization. And it is called “the mother river” by Chinese people.

The Yellow River takes its source from Bayanhar Mountain Range in Qinghai Province, meanders across over nine provinces, and empties into Bohai Sea in Shandong Province.

The natural landscapes of the Yellow River are breathtaking. And there are lots of famous historic and cultural sites along the Yellow River too. Therefore, when tourists come here, they can not only enjoy picturesque scenes, but also explore the Chinese history and culture.

The followings are the most famous places along the Yellow River:

In Lanzhou, travelers can see the first bridge of the Yellow River: Huang He tieqiao. There are also national forest parks, the symbol of the Mother River of China-statue of the Mother of Huang He, and the so called “Thirteen Ming Tombs of Longshang”- the tombs of King of Su of Ming dynasty.

In Ningxia, visitors can enjoy Shawei Lake, Malanhus Prairie, Yanzi Lake, tombs of Han dynasty, and the movie production base of the Great Canyon of the Yellow River. The Great Canyon is more than 30,000 meters in length and filled with ravines and gullies. There are primitive landscapes in the canyon. Some films have been produced there.

In Henan Province, the Yellow River dashes out of the narrows and enters into the plain. The majestic momentum can bring the famous verse of Li Bai to mind: the Yellow River’s waters move out of the heaven, enter the ocean, never to return. Here people can also enjoy the famous scenic spot of Xiaolangdi, which includes 13 sub-scenic spots and 113 attractions. Each attraction has got centuries-old stories. Among them the most fantastic one is the Eight Gorge. Its name came from its length: eight li (li is a Chinese distance measure; approximately 0.5 kilometers). It is believed that the gorge was formed through splitting mountains when Yu the Great controlled the water to prevent floods.

In Shanxi Province, tourists can enjoy the most famous waterfalls of the Yellow River: Hukou Waterfalls. When the waters of the Yellow River reach here, the river bed shrinks from 300 meters to 50 meters in its width. Cliffs rise steeply on both shores of Hukou, and the waters run down from 30 meters high Hukou. Because the shape of stream outlet is similar to a mouth of a pot (Hukou is the pronunciation of “mouth of a pot” in Chinese), therefore people gave the waterfalls a name of Hukou.

There are much more attractions aside from those places mentioned above. Visitors from all over the world can know more about China through enjoying these attractions along the Yellow River. 

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