China

The Yellow River is a river flowing in China, passing through the entire territory of the PRC and extending 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 rightly 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 the current Chinese were born. Actually, the Huang He now occupies a leading role in the life and activities of China, but first things first. The Yellow River, translated from Chinese, sounds like the “Yellow River”, so you can often find such a name.

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

And the yellow plume extending far into the Yellow Sea, it is into it that the Yellow River flows, can be seen for several kilometers.

Photo from space

Due to drifts carried with them, the river is rather dirty, and the water in it is mostly muddy. The Yellow River occupies a leading position among the rivers that carry soil with them; annually, the Yellow River carries 1.3 billion tons of various silt, sand and earth into the Yellow Sea. As you already understood, the mouth of the river is the Yellow Sea, and the source of the Huang He takes from the Tibetan Plateau, at an altitude of 4,000 meters.

In terms of its length, the Yellow River occupies an honorable 6th place, its length is 5,464 km, although it is not a record holder, it is also very long. The catchment area of ​​the river is 752,000 km². The main tributaries are the rivers: Daxia, Tao, Weihe, Luohe. The river is pretty rapid current, the average water flow is 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, the water resources of the Yellow River are used as drinking water as well as for industrial purposes. A number of large hydroelectric power stations are concentrated on the most intensive sections of the river.

The river carries a wide industrial character. Some sections of the river are even used for navigation, but this is only a small part, because in general the river 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.

How many was a man did not try to adapt surrounding nature to his interests, he still will not achieve complete submission. This is what 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 channel during floods. The river has a monsoon regime and the waters of the river can sometimes rise up to 20 meters in height.

In the entire history of the existence of the life of the formidable Yellow River, 26 changes in the riverbed were recorded, and there were even more breakthroughs in dams - 1,573 times the water went beyond their limits! The next breakthrough of water or the destruction of the dam inevitably entails dire consequences. With each spill of water, the coming disaster claims the lives of millions of people.

The first mentioned flooding of the river, followed by a change, the river destroyed the entire Qin dynasty. And about 2 million people died from the flood of 1887. The last disaster occurred in 1938, when the Chinese authorities deliberately broke the dams in order to stop the advance of the Japanese troops. As a result of this flood, about 900 thousand civilians died.

And before this spill there was another one, in 1931, then from 1,000,000 to 4 million people died. The fact is that the river constantly washes away soil and carries it with it, in some especially polluted areas natural dams are created, which subsequently entails flooding. Another reason may be the annual melting of ice. Ice forming congestion does not allow the rest of the mass of water to pass, as a result - a flood. To date, the PRC government is doing an excellent job of managing the riverbed and preventing all possible floods.

In this article you will learn How to translate the Yellow River where it flows, why it was called Yellow and what this water artery is famous for. (黄河, Huáng Hé, Yellow River) is the second longest river in China and the sixth in the world (the length of the river is 5464 km).

It originates in the Tibetan Plateau in the Bayan-Khara-Ula mountains and flows into the Bohai Gulf of the Yellow Sea, passing through seven provinces and two autonomous regions. It is called Yellow because of the color of sediments, which are washed in abundance by the river from the Loess Plateau and the Shanxi Mountains.

Sediments deposited in the lower reaches of the river make the soil fertile, but constantly raise the level of the river bed, leading to floods. Yellow River often changed course, sometimes quite strongly. Now the Yellow River is fenced with dams, and the water level in it is 3-10 meters higher than the level of the surrounding plain.

Yellow River: how the name of the Yellow River is translated

In early Chinese literature, the Huang He is called He (河, now the hieroglyph has the meaning of just a river). The name "Huang He" first occurs in the "Hanshu" (a history book of the Han Dynasty). The "Yellow" river was named for its color muddy water in the lower reaches of the river, acquired by washing out loess (clay) in the upper reaches. If you do not know in Qinghai province where its source is, then you know - "Peacock River" ("Ma Chu").

Yellow River: history

Prior to the construction of modern dams and hydraulic structures in the PRC, it was subject to frequent floods and spills. From 2540 B.C. e. Until 1946, 1593 floods occurred on the Yellow River, the river changed course 26 times, of which 9 times the channel was noticeably moved. Some of these floods were among the worst natural Disasters in the world. In addition to the many deaths from drowning, lives were taken away by famine and epidemics caused by spills.

The reason for frequent floods are particles of loess - sedimentary rock similar to clay. In the middle reaches, the Huang He passes through the Loess Plateau and washes out a huge amount of rock from it. Loess particles settle in the lower reaches of the river, on the Great Chinese Plain, which clog the riverbed. Natural dams form at the bottom of the river, and the bottom itself rises. In the end, the water breaks out of its banks, floods vast areas of the plain, and then makes a new channel for itself. Sometimes the new channel ran 480 kilometers from the old one, flowing into the sea now to the north of the Shandong Peninsula, then to the south of it.


Another source of flooding was ice dams in the upper reaches of the Yellow River in Inner Mongolia. Their sudden breakthrough in the spring led to the release of huge amounts of water and devastating floods. Now ice hummocks are being destroyed with explosives before they can become dangerous.

Yellow Yellow River in ancient times

Historical maps of the Zhou and Qin dynasties show that in ancient times Yellow Yellow River flowed far to the north.

After passing Luoyang, the river flowed along the borders of the provinces of Shanxi and Henan, and then Hebei and Shandong, flowing into the Bohai Bay near present-day Tianjin. Another mouth was located near the modern one. In 602 B.C. e. the river left its course, and turned south from the Shandong Peninsula. During the Zhangguo (Warring States) period, one of the standard military tactics was the sabotage of waterworks on the Yellow River, resulting in the flooding of enemy territory or troops. Major flood in 11 CE e. led to the overthrow of the short-lived Xin Dynasty, and another major flood in 70 AD. e. returned the riverbed to the north of the Shandong Peninsula.

Middle Ages in the history of the Yellow River

In 923, Tuan Ning, a general of the Later Liang Dynasty, again destroyed the dams on the Yellow River in order to protect the capital from the Later Tang troops. The flood flooded more than 2,600 square kilometers. A similar proposal by the Sung engineer Li Chun for protection against the Khitans was canceled in 1020: the Shanyuan Treaty between the Song and the Liao forbade the Sung to change the course of the rivers.

In 1034, the dams broke at Henglong: the Sung workers tried in vain for five years to return the river to its former course, more than a hundred thousand people were employed at work. In 1048, there was a new breakthrough in Shanghu, and in 1194, the Huang He, again changing the course, blocked the mouth of the Huaihe River, forcing it to flow into Lake Hongze instead of the sea, and from there to.

A flood in 1344 again sent the Huang He south of the Shandong Peninsula, and the destruction from it contributed to the overthrow of the Yuan dynasty and the accession of the Ming dynasty. In 1391 and 1494, already under the Ming Dynasty, the river again changed its course and overflowed. And in 1642, the Ming governor of Kaifeng tried to destroy the peasant rebels of Li Zicheng by destroying dams and flooding, but instead destroyed his city.

Yellow River (China): new time

During the Qing Dynasty, the Huang He flooded in 1851, 1853 and 1855, causing a revolt of nianjuns (torchbearers). The flood of 1887 killed up to two million people, and during the flood of 1897 Yellow River (China) found its current direction. The 1931 flood claimed between 1 and 4 million lives.

On June 9, 1938, during the Sino-Japanese War, the Kuomintang troops destroyed the dams on the Yellow River, which led to the flooding of 54 thousand square meters. km, killing up to 900 thousand Chinese and an unknown number of Japanese, and also prevented the Japanese from capturing Zhengzhou.

The Yellow River and geographical information

Source of the Yellow River is located on the Tibetan Plateau, in the mountains of Bayan-Khara-Ula, not far from the eastern border of the Yushu-Tibetan autonomous region. In the upper reaches, the river flows to the east, turns to the northwest, and then to the north, and, making the Ordos loop around the Ordos plateau, enters the North China Plain. The river flows along the plain in an easterly direction, and flows into the Bohai Bay of the Yellow Sea.

The Yellow River flows through seven provinces and two autonomous regions. From west to east, these are: Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan and Shandong. Big cities on the Yellow River include: Lanzhou, Yinchuan, Wuhai, Baotou, Luoyang, Zhengzhou, Kaifeng and Jinan.

The river is usually divided into three parts. The upper course occupies the northeastern part of the Tibetan Plateau, the middle one is the Ordos Loop, and the lower course runs along the North China Plain. There is no consensus on the exact boundaries between these three parts.

The upper course of the Yellow River begins from its source in the mountains of Bayan-Khara-Ula and ends in the village of Hekou, Tokto county (Khoh-Khot district of Inner Mongolia), where the river completes the Ordos loop and turns sharply to the south. The upper reaches stretch for 3472 kilometers - this is a large part of the river, and top part The basin has an area of ​​386 thousand square meters. km - 51.4% of the entire river basin. Along this length, the Yellow River descends 3,496 meters with an average gradient of 0.10%.

From its source, the river flows in a valley between the Bayan-Khara-Ula and Anme-Machin mountain ranges. The water in the river is clean here. The Yellow River passes through two clean high-altitude lakes: Zhaling and Eling, located at an altitude of more than 4290 meters. A significant part of the source of the river is located in the national nature reserve Sanjiangyuan (Sources of the Three Rivers), created to protect the sources of the Huang He, Yangtze and Mekong.

The Yellow River passes through the Longyang Gorge in Qinghai and then through the Qingtong Gorge in Gansu. Steep cliffs rise on both sides of the river, the slope is quite large, and the current is stormy and fast. In total, the Yellow River passes through 20 gorges in the upper reaches, the most famous of which are Longyang, Jishi, Lujia, Bapan and Qingtong. The flow conditions in this part of the river make it an excellent site for hydroelectric power plants.

After passing through the Qingtong Gorge, the river enters the vast alluvial plains: the Yinchuan Plain and the Hetao Plain. Along the river, there are mainly deserts and steppes, there are very few tributaries, the flow is slow. The Hetao plain has a length of 900 kilometers and a width of 30 to 50. Thanks to the Huang He, Hetao is a fertile and populated plain, sandwiched between the Gobi and Ordos deserts.

The middle course is located between the town of Hekou in Inner Mongolia and the city of Zhengzhou in Henan province, and has a length of 1206 kilometers and a basin area of ​​344,000 square meters. km (45.7% of the entire river basin). The drop in height is 890 meters and the average slope is 0.074%. In the middle reaches, the Yellow River receives more than 30 large tributaries, and the flow of water almost doubles.

The middle course of the Yellow River passes through the Loess Plateau, where significant erosion occurs. A large amount of loess, mud and sand washed out makes the Yellow River the most sediment-bearing river in the world. The middle course supplies 92% of the river's sediment. Most high level The precipitation content was recorded in 1933, when 3.91 billion tons of rock were washed by the river, and the highest concentration was in 1977 (920 kg / m³). These sediments are deposited downstream, where the river slows down.

From Hekou to Yumenkou, the Yellow River passes through a series of valleys collectively referred to as the Jinshan Valley. These valleys, along with the upper reaches of the river, are good place for hydroelectric power plants. At the bottom of the valley is the famous Hukou Waterfall.

The lower course of the Yellow River starts from Zhengzhou and reaches the mouth of the river. It has a length of 786 kilometers and runs along the North China Plain in a northeasterly direction. The basin area of ​​the lower reaches is only 23 thousand square meters. km (3% of the entire river basin). This is due to the fact that the river here flows along an elevated dam and has few tributaries, all rivers north of the Yellow River flow into the Haihe, and south into the Huaihe. The drop in height in the lower reaches is 93.6 meters, and the slope is 0.012%

Loess, silt, mud and sand, washed out in the middle course, are deposited here, continuously raising the level of the bottom. Following the bottom, the local population continuously builds up a dam that keeps the river in its banks. In the lower reaches, the water level in the river is several meters higher than the level of the surrounding plain, in Kaifeng - by 10 meters.

The section is very easy to use. In the proposed field, just enter the desired word, and we will give you a list of its meanings. I would like to note that our site provides data from various sources - encyclopedic, explanatory, word-building dictionaries. Here you can also get acquainted with examples of the use of the word you entered.

The meaning of the word huanghe

huanghe in the crossword dictionary

Encyclopedic Dictionary, 1998

huanghe

Huanghe (Yellow River) in eastern China. 4845 km, basin area 771 thousand km2. It begins in the east of the Tibetan Plateau, flows along the Hetao Plain, through the Loess Plateau, the Great Plain of China. Falls into the hall. Bohaiwan Yellow m., forming a delta. Average water consumption approx. 2000 m3/s, maximum - in summer. Floods are not uncommon with dam breaks and channel movements reaching 800 km. Carries an average of 35-40 kg / m3 of sediment (the highest concentration among the major rivers of the Earth). Used for irrigation. Hydroelectric power station (near the city of Lanzhou and in the Sanmensya Gorge). Navigable in some areas. On the Yellow River - the cities of Lanzhou, Baotou; in the valley - the city of Zhengzhou, Jinan.

Huanghe

Lujiaxia, Yongjing County, Linxia-Hui Autonomous Region Erasing the Loess Plateau and the Shanxi Mountains, the Huang He annually carries out 1.3 billion tons of suspended sediment, ranking first among the world's rivers in this indicator. Intensive sedimentation in the lower reaches increases the channel, which is located at heights from 3 to 10 m above the adjacent plains. In order to protect against floods, the Yellow River and its tributaries are protected by a large-scale system of dams, the total length of which is about 5 thousand km. Breaks of dams led to huge floods and channel movements. This led to death a large number people and gave the river the nickname "Mountain of China". The maximum recorded movement of the Yellow River channel was about 800 km.

In 11 AD e. The Yellow River made a breakthrough in a new direction, which caused a humanitarian catastrophe - one of the factors that led to the fall of the Xin dynasty. From 602 AD e. To this day, 26 changes in the course of the Yellow River and 1573 dam breaks have been recorded. In list major disasters- the flood of 1931 and 1938, organized by the Kuomintang authorities in order to stop the advance of the Japanese army.

Huanghe (Arctic Station)

Huanghe- Chinese research station in the Arctic, opened by the "Polar Research Institute of China" near the village of Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard in 2003. Scientists at the station are studying northern lights and frozen microorganisms, monitor glaciers and meteorological studies.

Huang He (disambiguation)

• Huang He is a river in China.
• Huang He is a Chinese research station in the Arctic.

Examples of the use of the word huanghe in literature.

On the outskirts of the Alashan desert, at the bend Huanghe Ordos, a fertile loess plateau, was located just next to each other, replacing each other, the capitals of medieval China - Chang'an, Luoyang, Xi'an and further into the depths of China - Kaifeng.

So called the foothills of Alashan and Nanshan, lying to the west of the turn Huanghe on North.

Huanghe flows from south to north, and the entire territory located east of the river.

Huanghe and Weihe did not quench his thirst, he rushed to the north to drink from Big swamp Yes, before reaching, he threw his staff and died of thirst on the way.

My name is Guan Yu, and I am from Jielang, which is east of the river. Huanghe, he replied.

Dong Cheng and Yang Feng persuaded the emperor to leave the carriage and walk to the river bank. Huanghe where Li Yue and the others had already found the boat and set up a crossing.

Meanwhile, Cao Cao with his victorious troops positioned himself along the river bank. Huanghe.

The enemy, shouting and whooping, gave chase after them, and at dawn they reached the bank of the river. Huanghe.

Advisor Cheng Yu suggested that he take the army to the shore Huanghe, hide ten squads there, and then lure Yuan Shao to the shore.

Capital - Kaifeng on the river Huanghe, in further capital was moved to the city of Hangzhou in southern China.

Old World - from Niger to Huanghe, from Ireland to southern India - as a result of the onset of a humid, rainy climatic period.

As soon as it became known to Cao Cao that Yuan Shao intended to cross the Huanghe, and Wen Chou had already occupied the crossing at Yanjin, he first of all ordered the resettlement of local residents in Xihe.

The Tarim, in turn, flowed into Lop Nor Lake, and the Yangtze River, Huanghe, Mekong, Salween, Mnd and Bramaputra - to distant oceans.

On the Huanghe- the cities of Lanzhou, Baotou, in the valley - the cities of Zhengzhou, Jinan.

Huanghe length: approximately 5,000 kilometers.

Area of ​​the Yellow River Basin: about 700,000 square kilometers.

Where does the Yellow River flow? The source of the Yellow River is located on the plateau of Tibet, in a hilly country lying south of the Burkhan Buddha ridge. Running along a valley dotted with small reservoirs, called by the Chinese - Sin-su-hai, Odon-tola and Tibetans Garma-tan, which means "starry", it is significantly enriched with water and flows into Lake Tsarin-nor with a reach that is over 15 meters wide . Lake Tsarin-nor (Dzarin, Tsaka and Dzaga-nor) and Norin-nor (Orin-nor), lying on the way of the Yellow River, are vast reservoirs of fresh water connected by a channel, clear water located at an absolute height of 4,050 meters. In addition to the Soloma River, they receive many other rivers, of which the Jagyn-Gol River, which flows into the channel mentioned above from the south and collects its waters in the Dzulmetan swamps, is the most significant. From Lake Norin-nora, which is deeper than Tsarin-nora and reaches a depth of 30 meters not far from the shore, the Yellow River flows out in a stream 60-80 meters wide, with a depth of 1-1.5 meters at the fords. Only for a few kilometers the Huang He flows in a wide valley, then the latter is hampered by rocks, especially the Amne-machin ridge, which throws it to the South. Having rounded the aforementioned ridge, the river makes a sharp turn to the North and flows here in a narrow, deep valley, across a whole series of latitudinal ridges. In ur. Balekun-gomi, it turns to the East and, continuing to remain inaccessible almost to the mountains of Gui-te-tina (Gui-duya), a huge stream quickly carrying its waters reaches this city. About 20 kilometers below Kui-te-ting, it again enters a gorge, which unfolds into a narrow valley near Mount Xiong-hua-ting. The Huang He valley retains this character up to the Lan-zhou-fu mountain, beyond which the river already completely loses its mountain character. From Lan-zhou-fu, it flows about 650 kilometers to the North along the Great Wall, deviates to the East by the Yin-shan ridge and once again to the South of the ridge. Bei-ling. Soon, the Huang He enters the Great Chinese Plain, where it takes a northeasterly direction, which does not change until it flows into the Zhili Gulf.

How to eat Huang He: rain, in the mountainous part of the basin also snow.

Tributaries of the Huang He: Wudinghe, Weihe, Fynhe.

Inhabitants of the Yellow River: Chinese crab...

Freezing Huanghe: The upper reaches of the Yellow River rush at great speed, so the surface of the river is never covered with people, the ice cover in January - February is formed in the middle reaches and sometimes for 2-3 weeks - in the lower.

HUANGHE - CHINA'S SORRY

So the locals for many centuries called the Yellow River. The Chinese name translates as "Woe to the sons of the Khan", which indicates frequent floods. Over the past four millennia, the river has broken through dams more than one and a half thousand times, while flooding agricultural land and entire villages. As a result of this, tens of millions of people died, the same number 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 the victims of floods caused by tropical cyclones). The rivers of disaster can be called 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, the Yangtze and the Yellow River in China.

One of the main water arteries of China - the Yellow River - is called the "River of a Thousand Sorrows". It changed its course more than 20 times, flowing 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, water flooded fields and villages, killed people and livestock, 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 the spill leaves a significant part of the most fertile loess (silt) collected upstream. After all, each ton of loess contains significant amount nitrogen, phosphorus and calcium. Huang He is one of the most muddy rivers in the world: it carries about 26 kg of silt per cubic yard of water. During a spill, the current can carry up to 544 kg of silt 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. For the color of the water, she received another name - the Yellow River.

From its upper reaches, the Yellow River brings to the Great Plain of China annually up to 400 million tons of silt and sand. As a result, in the lower reaches the bed of the "River of Sorrow" rises, and it seems to hang over the surrounding area. At present, 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 riverbed narrows due to silt, which leads to a decrease in its carrying capacity 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, about 161 km west of Lake Jarin Hyp (Gyaring Tso). From here, the Huang He begins its 5463 km long journey to the Yellow Sea. It is the fourth longest river in Asia, although its drainage basin of 979,000 km2 ranks only seventh in the world. The path of the river in the upper reaches for 1175 km runs through the sparsely populated areas of China. It descends along rapids and deep gorges and breaks out from the Tibetan Plateau to the desert plains of Inner Mongolia. Then it flows through the Loess Plateau, the Ordos Desert, the eastern spurs of the Qin Liin Range, and finally enters the expanses of the Great Chinese Plain. Here, due to the layer of silt applied over the millennia, the level of the river is several meters higher than the level of the surrounding area. Therefore, people had to protect the channel on both sides with earthen ramparts, sometimes reaching a height of ten meters.

In July-October, during the monsoon rainy season, a flood occurs, the maximum water flow in the river sometimes exceeds the low water by 200 times! It is during this period that catastrophic floods occur. For example, in 2356 BC. e. The Yellow River overflowed its banks, there was a severe flood, the river changed its course and began to flow into the Yellow Sea near the city of Tianjin. In 602 B.C. e. there was an increase in the number of floods, which forced the inhabitants 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 yokes carried soil and poured a high dam. In that year, the formidable river again changed its course. By 69 B.C. e. a system of protective dams has already been created on the plain by millions of human hands. But the Yellow River, sweeping away everything in its path, continued to change direction. The peasants practically with bare hands built new defensive structures to replace the dams destroyed by the rebellious 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. Again, it took the hellish labor 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 him, an epidemic of plague broke out, which claimed the lives of seven million people. Infection occurred, including 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 channel. This entailed the destruction of numerous villages, the death of thousands of peasants and livestock, the flooding of fields, gardens, sources of clean drinking water. As a result, diseases 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, thousands of people went missing.

In 1927, the Chinese invited foreign engineers to consult on issues of protection against formidable water. One of them shared his impressions of the Yellow River: “There is apparently 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 devastating activities. Even as a transport artery, it does not have of great importance. This river more enemy than an assistant. Despite modern dams, 1931 brought together a huge number of victims - the element took 3.7 million human lives. 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 water, 18 thousand drowned, more than three thousand settlements were under water. More than 500 million cubic meters of land had to be moved by people in order to once again force the river to flow along the channel allotted to it and win back fertile lands from it. In June 1938, the tragedy broke out 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 whole area, together with the enemy, was flooded, the river went to Pacific Ocean along its old path. It cost the lives of half a million Chinese peasants, whose villages and fields disappeared under water, and whose livestock died. This is the price paid by Beijing for stopping the advance of the Japanese army.

By the time the People's Republic of China was proclaimed on October 1, 1949, the general state of the country's nature was deplorable. Only 8–9% of the area of ​​the entire territory remained forested, more than 1 million km 2 of soil were subject to erosion. But especially significant damage environment was inflicted during the Great Leap Forward and cultural revolution". In those years, in order to solve the food problem as soon as possible, the Peking communist elite put forward the slogan: "Grain is the basis of the foundations." In accordance with this, not only the uncontrolled plowing of new lands began, but also the conversion of many existing agricultural lands. In the steppes of northwestern China and Inner Mongolia, millions of hectares of pastures were plowed up for grain crops. In coastal areas, even fish spawning grounds were drained and sown with grain. The peasants were required to collect 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 the Yellow River. This led to new cataclysms. In August 1950, as a result of the flooding of the two main rivers of the PRC - the Yellow River and the Yangtze, about 500 people drowned and more than 10 million were left homeless. The elements destroyed 890 thousand houses, and 5 million acres of agricultural land were under water. Approximately 4 million acres of land remained uncultivated during the entire sowing period. Animal husbandry also suffered enormous damage.

The PRC government urged the local population to "curb the Yellow River" and developed a plan that included the construction of hydroelectric power plants, flood control spillways, irrigation canals, etc. During 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 of the area, two spillways were built, with the help of which they diverted excess water. In order to solve the problem of supplying electricity to industrial areas, prevent major floods, develop an irrigation system, improve navigation conditions and regulate flow, the Sanmenxia hydroelectric complex was built. The second major hydrotechnical construction project on the Yellow River was the Lujiaxia hydroelectric power station. Hydroelectric stations were put into operation at many reservoirs, which greatly 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 China killed 4,000 people, affected 40 million, destroyed 5 million houses, as well as roads, bridges, railway embankments, power lines and communications. The total economic damage amounted to more than $36 billion. The government sent thousands of rescuers and army units to fight against the elements. On November 14, 2002, a project was launched to strengthen flood control dams on the Yellow River. In the sections of the flow near the cities of Heze and Jinan, the total length is 128 km. But still a year later there was a new disaster. After heavy rains in September-October 2003 and the release of the wayward river and one of its tributaries out of control, about 300,000 people were forced to evacuate to safe areas. In Shanxi province alone, more than 20,000 hectares of agricultural land and several villages were flooded as a result of the flood. This was the fifth flood in a year.

But here is a paradox: despite the devastating seasonal floods, the Yellow River is the most major river in the world, subject to drying up. Recent times due to the large expenditure on the needs of irrigation of rice paddies and orchards, an acute shortage of water began to be felt in the Yellow River. In 1972, for the first time, its waters did not reach the mouth for two weeks. In the next decade, the river in the lower reaches has already dried up several times, and since 1982 this has become an annual event. At the same time, the anhydrous period increased all the time. For example, in the dry summer of 1997, the lower reaches completely dried up for more than 140 days (according to other sources - for 226 days), leaving peasant plots without water. Dry periods every year yellow river became longer and longer, posing a threat to agricultural land. The crop failure, in turn, created hunger in millions of Chinese families.

This text is an introductory piece. From the book Apostolic Christianity (A.D. 1-100) author Schaff Philip

Chapter VI. Great Tribulation Matthew 24:21

From the book Gumilev son of Gumilev author Belyakov Sergey Stanislavovich

CHIMERA ON HUANGHE If "The Search for a Fictional 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 Gumilyov. Style, as always, betrays in Gumilyov not only a scientist, but also

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

From the book of 100 famous disasters author Sklyarenko Valentina Markovna

HUANGHE - CHINA'S SORRY This is how the locals called the Yellow River for many centuries. The Chinese name translates as "Woe to the sons of the Khan", which indicates frequent floods. Over the past four millennia, the river has broken through dams more than one and a half thousand times, with

From book Ancient world author Ermanovskaya Anna Eduardovna

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

From the book History ancient east author Avdiev Vsevolod Igorevich

Chinese culture 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 process Chinese religion, philosophy,

From book folk traditions China author Martyanova Ludmila Mikhailovna

History of China The history of China is 5,000 years old. China is the only country on earth where the continuity of state and culture has been preserved for four millennia. The first Chinese dynasty is the Xia dynasty, the founder of which is traditionally considered

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

Part four. Between Itil and Huang He

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

2. Turn in policy towards the new government of China. Determining the main course to seize China During the war, Japan became more and more eager to solve the Chinese problem as soon as possible and direct all attention to the war with America

From the book 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 falls into the history of its two parts - the North and the South, and it was quite possible that we would not have a frighteningly close-knit Far Eastern giant on the map now. However - everything is in order (not all,

From the book Policemen and provocateurs author Lurie Felix Moiseevich

SORRY 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 of the incident, he wrote: “I am terribly shocked and upset by this news. Wanted notice for S.P. DegaevOf course, we were always afraid for

From the book Life of Constantine the author Pamphilus Eusebius

CHAPTER 72 found solace in pure light and joy in

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

author Kryukov Mikhail Vasilievich

Neolithic Cultures in the Yellow River Basin: Problems of Chronology The question of the dating of Neolithic sites in China came to the attention of researchers soon after Yu. Anderson discovered the first settlement with painted pottery 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 Linking together all currently known facts related to the origin of the Neolithic cultures of the central zone, it seems possible to state the following hypothesis (Map 5). In V

From the book Russian explorers - the glory and pride of Russia author Glazyrin Maxim Yurievich

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