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100-462: The river flows northwards from its source in the province of Hebei into the province of Inner Mongolia , and then flows southeast back into Hebei to its mouth on the Bohai Sea . The headstream is known as Shandian River. This part of the river flows near the ancient Mongol capital city of Shangdu . Another important settlement in this section is Duolun . From here, the river's course turns to

200-474: A "war-induced natural disaster". The goal of the operation was to stop the advancing Japanese troops by following a strategy of "using water as a substitute for soldiers". The 1938 flood of an area covering 54,000 km (20,800 sq mi) took some 500,000 to 900,000 Chinese lives, along with an unknown number of Japanese soldiers. The flood prevented the Japanese Army from taking Zhengzhou , on

300-669: A drastic eastward turn at its confluence with the Wei at Tongguan in Shaanxi . However, the official division for the middle reaches of the river run from Hekou in Togtoh County , Inner Mongolia , to Zhengzhou , Henan . The middle reaches are 1,206 km (749 mi) long, with a basin area of 344,000 square kilometers (133,000 sq mi), 45.7% of the total, with a total elevation drop of 890 m (2,920 ft), an average drop of 0.074%. There are 30 large tributaries along

400-559: A history of over 100 years, is one of China's first modern coal mines. It remains active, with an annual production of over 20 million metric tonnes. Much of the North China Oilfied is within Hebei. There are major iron mines at Handan and Qian'an . Iron and steel manufacturing are the largest industries in Hebei. The population in Hebei is mostly Han Chinese . There are 55 ethnic minorities in Hebei, representing 4.27% of

500-609: A north–south extent of about 1,100 km (680 mi). Its total drainage area is about 795,000 square kilometers (307,000 sq mi). According to the China Exploration and Research Society, the source of the Yellow River is at 34°29′31″N 96°20′25″E  /  34.49194°N 96.34028°E  / 34.49194; 96.34028 in the Bayan Har Mountains near the eastern edge of

600-399: A population of 120 million people, while over 420 million people live in the immediate provinces which rely on it as a water source. The basin comprises 13 percent of China's cultivated land area. The area receives very uneven rainfall, only 2 percent of China's water runoff —water and sediment flow has decreased five-fold since the 1970s, and until recently, the river frequently did not reach

700-629: A province. Instead, the area was directly administrated by the Secretariat at the capital Dadu . The Ming dynasty ruled Hebei as Beizhili, meaning Northern Directly Ruled because the area contained and was directly ruled by the imperial capital in Beijing . The "Northern" designation was used because there was a southern counterpart covering present-day Jiangsu and Anhui . When the Manchu Qing dynasty came to power in 1644, they abolished

800-593: Is "River of the Peacock" ( Tibetan : རྨ ་ ཆུ , Wylie : rma.chu , THL : Ma chu ; 玛曲 ; 瑪曲 ; Mǎ qǔ ). The Yellow River first formed sometime during the Late Miocene , Pliocene or Pleistocene , as a result of the Tibetan Plateau being uplifted. The river has long been critical to the development of northern China, and is regarded by scholars as a cradle of civilization . Flooding of

900-477: Is 36,931,232 (49.50%). The gender ratio of the total population was 102.02, decreasing by 0.82 from 2010. Religion in Hebei The dominant religions in Hebei are Chinese folk religions , Taoist traditions , and Chinese Buddhism . According to surveys conducted in 2007 and 2009, 5.52% of the population believe in and are involved in ancestor veneration , while 3.05% identify as Christian, belonging mostly to

1000-594: Is China's premier steel producer, which has contributed to serious air pollution. "Hebei" means 'north of the river', derived from the province's location north of the Yellow River in the North China Plain . In the Yu Gong , the province is recorded as " Jizhou ", lending to its traditional abbreviation of "Ji" ( 冀 ). The province's nickname is "Yanzhao" ( 燕赵 ), which is the collective name of

1100-568: Is running to the sea with sufficient volume, 1.4 billion tons are carried to the sea per year. One estimate gives 34 kilograms of silt per cubic meter, as opposed to 10 for the Colorado and 1 for the Nile . Its average discharge is said to be 2,110 cubic meters per second (32,000 for the Yangtze), with a maximum of 25,000 and minimum of 245. However, since 1972, it often runs dry before it reaches

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1200-544: Is said to define part of the crater's outline. 39°25′48″N 119°18′12″E  /  39.43000°N 119.30333°E  / 39.43000; 119.30333 This article related to a river in China is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Hebei Hebei is a province in North China . It is China's sixth-most populous province , with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang

1300-998: Is structured in a dual party-government system like all other governing institutions in mainland China . The Governor of Hebei is the highest-ranking official in the People's Government of Hebei. However, in the province's dual party-government governing system, the governor has less power than the Hebei Chinese Communist Party Provincial Committee Secretary ( CCP Party Chief ). Hebei has eleven prefecture-level divisions . All are prefecture-level cities : These eleven prefecture-level divisions are subdivided into 168 county-level divisions (47 districts , 21 county-level cities , 94 counties and 6 autonomous counties ). Those are, in turn, divided into 2207 township-level divisions (1 district public office , 937 towns , 979 townships , 55 ethnic townships , and 235 subdistricts ). At

1400-400: Is the capital city. It borders Shanxi to the west, Henan to the south, Shandong and Liaoning to the east, and Inner Mongolia to the north; in addition, Hebei entirely surrounds the direct-administered municipalities of Beijing and Tianjin on land. Its population is 96% Han Chinese , 3% Manchu , 0.8% Hui , and 0.3% Mongol . Varieties of Chinese spoken include Jilu Mandarin ,

1500-444: Is usually creamy white, though it is also made in other colors. Hebei cuisine is typically based on wheat, mutton, and beans. The donkey burger , originating from the cities of Baoding and Hejian , Cangzhou , is a staple in provincial cuisine and has spread into the two municipalities. Other dishes include local variants of shaobing . Beidaihe , located near Shanhaiguan, is a popular beach resort. The Ming Great Wall crosses

1600-540: The 1897 flood . The 1931 flood killed an estimated 1,000,000 to 4,000,000, and is the worst natural disaster recorded (excluding famines and epidemics). On 9 June 1938, during the Second Sino-Japanese War , Nationalist troops under Chiang Kai-shek broke the levees holding back the river near the village of Huayuankou in Henan, causing what has been called by Canadian historian, Diana Lary,

1700-560: The Bayan Har Mountains , and the Anemaqen ( Amne Machin ) Mountains in Qinghai. The river water is clear and flows steadily. Crystal clear lakes are characteristic of this section. The two main lakes along this section are Lake Gyaring (Zhaling) and Lake Ngoring (Eling), with capacities of 4.7 billion and 10.8 billion m (166 and 381 billion ft ), respectively. At elevations over 4,290 m (14,070 ft) above sea level they are

1800-613: The Bayan Har Mountains , the river flows generally eastwards before entering the 1,500 km (930 mi) long Ordos Loop, which runs northeast at Gansu through the Ordos Plateau and turns east in Inner Mongolia . The river then turns sharply southwards to form the border between Shanxi and Shaanxi , turns eastwards at its confluence with the Wei River , and flows across the North China Plain before emptying into

1900-676: The Beijing dialect of Mandarin, and Jin Chinese . During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods (771–226 BC), the region was ruled by the states of Yan and Zhao . During the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), the region was called Zhongshu . It was called North Zhili during the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), and simply Zhili during the Qing dynasty (1644–1912). The modern province of Hebei

2000-559: The Bohai Sea . The river is named for the yellow color of its water, which comes from the large amount of sediment discharged into the water as the river flows through the Loess Plateau . The Yellow River basin was the birthplace of ancient Chinese civilization . According to traditional Chinese historiography , the Xia dynasty originated on its banks around 2100 BC; Sima Qian 's Shiji ( c.  91 BC ) record that

2100-543: The Catholic Church . As of 2010 Muslims constitute 0.82% of the population of Hebei. Although the surveys did not provide specific data for other religions, 90.61% of the population are either nonreligious or are involved in worship of nature deities , Buddhism , Confucianism , Taoism , and folk religious sects . Zailiism is a folk religious sect that originated in Hebei. Local worship of deities organized into benevolent churches in reaction to Catholicism in

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2200-462: The Gulf of Bohai , draining a basin of 752,443 square kilometers (290,520 sq mi) which nourishes 140 million people with drinking water and irrigation. The Yellow River passes through seven present-day provinces and two autonomous regions , namely (from west to east) Qinghai , Sichuan , Gansu , Ningxia , Inner Mongolia , Shaanxi , Shanxi , Henan , and Shandong . Major cities along

2300-561: The Hangu Pass ; it saw numerous battles and was also an important chokepoint protecting the Han capitals of Chang'an and Luoyang . Major flooding in AD 11 is credited with the downfall of the short-lived Xin dynasty , and another flood in AD 70 returned the river north of Shandong on essentially its present course. From around the beginning of the 3rd century, the importance of the Hangu Pass

2400-474: The Ji Lu Mandarin subdivision of Chinese. Along the western border with Shanxi , dialects are distinct enough for linguists to consider them as part of Jin , another subdivision of Chinese. In general, the dialects of Hebei are similar to the Beijing dialect , which forms the basis for Standard Chinese and the official language of the nation. However, there are also some distinct differences, such as

2500-870: The Later Tang (923–936). Emperor Gaozu of the Later Jin dynasty ceded much of northern Hebei to the Khitan Liao dynasty . This territory, called the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, became a weakness in the Chinese defense against the Khitans for the next century because it lay within the Great Wall . During the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127), the sixteen ceded prefectures continued to be an area of contention between Song China and

2600-646: The Qing dynasty . Hebei has the largest Catholic population in China, with one million members and 1.5 million Catholics according to the Catholic Church. In 1900, apparition of the Virgin Mary was said have appeared in the town of Donglu in Baoding . As a result, Donglu is "one of the strongholds of the unofficial Catholic Church in China". Many Catholics in Hebei remain loyal to the Pope and reject

2700-427: The Spring and Autumn period and Qin dynasty indicate that the Yellow River at that time flowed considerably north of its present course. These accounts show that after the river passed Luoyang , it flowed along the border between Shanxi and Henan Provinces, then continued along the border between Hebei and Shandong before emptying into Bohai Bay near present-day Tianjin . Another outlet followed essentially

2800-563: The Warring States period (403–221 BC), Jin was partitioned and much of its territory in Hebei went to Zhao . The Qin dynasty unified China in 221 BC. The Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD) ruled the area under two provinces, You Prefecture in the north and Ji Province in the south. At the end of the Han dynasty, most of Hebei was under the control of warlords Gongsun Zan in the north and Yuan Shao further south. Yuan Shao emerged as

2900-761: The World War II , Hebei was under the control of the Reorganized National Government of the Republic of China , a puppet state of Imperial Japan . The founding of the People's Republic of China saw several changes. The region around Chengde , previously part of Rehe Province (historically part of Manchuria ), and the region around Zhangjiakou , previously part of Chahar Province (historically part of Inner Mongolia ), were merged into Hebei. This extended its borders northwards beyond

3000-595: The Yan and Zhao states that controlled the region during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods (771–221 BC). In 1421, the Yongle Emperor of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) moved the capital from Nanjing to Beijing , and the province surrounding the new capital was first called North Zhili or Zhili , meaning 'directly ruled'. When Nanjing became the capital of the Republic of China in 1928,

3100-535: The Yangtze : one in the western headwaters of the rivers where they are closest to one another, another from the upper reaches of the Han River , and a third using the route of the old Grand Canal . Due to its heavy load of silt the Yellow River is a depositing stream – that is, it deposits part of its carried burden of soil in its bed in stretches where it is flowing slowly. These deposits elevate

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3200-663: The Yellow Emperor , Yan Emperor , and their Yanhuang tribes against the Chiyou -led Jiuli tribes, took place in Zhangjiakou and started the Huaxia civilization. During the Spring and Autumn period (722–476 BC), Hebei was under the rule of Yan in the north and Jin in the south. Also during this period, a nomadic people known as Dí invaded the plains of northern China and established Zhongshan in central Hebei. In

3300-643: The Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture . The source tributaries drain into Gyaring Lake and Ngoring Lake on the western edge of Golog Prefecture high in the Bayan Har Mountains of Qinghai . In the Zoige Basin along the boundary with Gansu , the Yellow River loops northwest and then northeast before turning south, creating the " Ordos Loop ", and then flows generally eastward across the North China Plain to

3400-421: The 'Earth Suspended River' . At Kaifeng , Henan, the Yellow River is 10 meters (33 ft) above the ground level. Tributaries of the Yellow River listed from its source to its mouth include: The lower reaches of the Yellow River have no tributaries. The Yellow River is notable for the large amount of silt it carries—1.6 billion tons annually at the point where it descends from the Loess Plateau . If it

3500-506: The Bayan Har Mountains and ending at Hekou Town ( Togtoh County ), Inner Mongolia just before it turns sharply to the south. This segment has a total length of 3,472 kilometers (2,157 mi) and total basin area of 386,000 square kilometers (149,000 sq mi), 51.4% of the total basin area. Along this length, the elevation of the Yellow River drops 3,496 meters (11,470 ft), with an average grade of 0.10%. The source section flows mainly through pastures, swamps, and knolls between

3600-525: The Great Wall. Meanwhile, the city of Puyang was carved away, causing Hebei to lose access to the Yellow River . The city became part of the short-lived Pingyuan Province before eventually being annexed into Henan . The capital was also moved from Baoding to the new city of Shijiazhuang , and, for a short period, to Tianjin . On July 28, 1976, Tangshan was struck by the Tangshan earthquake ,

3700-482: The Jinshan Valley. The abundant hydrodynamic resources stored in this section make it the second most suitable area to build hydroelectric power plants. The famous Hukou Waterfall is in the lower part of this valley on the border of Shanxi and Shaanxi . In the lower reaches, from Zhengzhou to its mouth, a distance of 786 km (488 mi), the river is confined to a levee -lined course as it flows to

3800-659: The Liao dynasty. Later, the Southern Song dynasty abandoned all of North China , including Hebei, to the Jurchen Jin dynasty after the 1127 Jingkang Incident of the Jin–Song wars . Hebei was heavily affected by the flooding of the Yellow River; between 1048 and 1128, the river ran directly through the province rather than to its south. The Mongol Yuan dynasty divided China into provinces but did not establish Hebei as

3900-506: The North China Plain to irrigated agriculture. Construction began in earnest in 1957. From the 1970s to the 1990s, the dry-up trends accelerated, with the Yellow River failing to reach its mouth for an average of approximately 180 days per year in the 1990s. In 1997, the Yellow River did not reach the sea for 226 consecutive days. The Yellow River basin has an east–west extent of about 1,900 kilometers (1,180 mi) and

4000-569: The Rehe Palace, this was the summer resort of the Manchu Qing dynasty emperors. The resort was built between 1703 and 1792. It consists of a palace complex and a large park with lakes, pavilions, causeways, and bridges. There are also several Tibetan Buddhist and Han Chinese temples in the surrounding area. There are Qing dynasty imperial tombs at Zunhua ( Eastern Qing Tombs ) and Yixian ( West Qing Tombs ). The Eastern Qing Tombs are

4100-566: The Xia were founded after the tribes around the Yellow River united to combat the frequent floods in the area. The river has provided fertile soil for agriculture, but since then has flooded and changed course frequently, with one estimate counting 1,593 floods in the 2,540 years between 595 BC and 1946 AD. As such, the Yellow River has been considered a blessing and a curse throughout history, and has been nicknamed both "China's Pride" and "China's Sorrow". The Yellow River's basin presently has

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4200-477: The Yellow River Basin by the south dike of the Yellow River. The total drop in elevation of the lower reaches is 93.6 m (307 ft), with an average grade of 0.012%. The silts received from the middle reaches form sediments here, elevating the river bed. Excessive sediment deposits have raised the riverbed several meters above the surrounding ground. That is why this part of the river is called

4300-421: The Yellow River is 3.91 billion tons in 1933. The highest silt concentration level was recorded in 1977 at 920 kg/m (57.4 lb/ft ). These sediments later deposit in the slower lower reaches of the river, elevating the river bed and creating the famous "river above ground". From Hekou to Yumenkou, the river passes through the longest series of continuous valleys on its main course, collectively called

4400-464: The Yellow River. One, which he identifies as Confucian , advocated containing the river between higher levees, thus maximizing the amount of river basin land that could be cultivated. The other, which he associates with Taoism , favored lower levees separated by as much as 5-10 kilometers. In one particular long-running debate during the 11th century reigns of the Renzong and Shenzong emperors, when

4500-484: The area houses a memorial site. The 2018 Women's Bandy World Championship was held in Hebei. Sports teams based in Hebei include National Basketball League (China) , Hebei Springs Benma, and the Chinese Football Association team Hebei F.C. , Hebei Elite F.C. , and Cangzhou Mighty Lions F.C. Baoding is home to the Baoding balls , a kind of metal ball for exercise and meditation. Under

4600-507: The authority of the Catholic Patriotic Church. Four of Hebei's underground bishops have been imprisoned in recent years: Bishop Francis An Shuxin of Donglu since 1996; Bishop James Su Zhimin since October 1997; Bishop Han Dingxiang of Yongnian who died in prison in 2007, and Bishop Julius Jia Zhiguo of Zhengding since late 1999. People speak dialects of Mandarin across the Hebei, with most classified as part of

4700-579: The central plains from the Khitai was overruled in 1020: the Chanyuan Treaty between the two states had expressly forbidden the Song from establishing new moats or changing river courses. Breaches occurred regardless: one at Henglong in 1034 divided the course in three and repeatedly flooded the northern regions of Dezhou and Bozhou . The Song worked for five years futilely attempting to restore

4800-609: The deadliest earthquake of the 20th century, killing over 240,000 people. There were a series of smaller earthquakes in the following decade. Today, Hebei, along with Beijing and Tianjin municipalities which it includes, make up the Jing-Jin-Ji megalopolis region. With a population of 130 million, it is about six times the size of the New York metropolitan area and is one of the largest megalopolis clusters in China. Beijing had also unloaded some of its non-capital functions to

4900-460: The deadliest natural disasters ever recorded. Before modern disaster management, when floods occurred, some of the population might initially die from drowning and many more would suffer later from the ensuing famine and spread of diseases. In Chinese mythology , the giant Kua Fu drained the Yellow River and the Wei River to quench his burning thirst as he pursued the Sun. Historical documents from

5000-541: The end of Tang dynasty , for unclear reasons. In the Shaanxi loess plateau, it is referred to as 'river, my lord' ( 老爺河 , [lo˦˩˨ i˧ xɤu̯˧] ) in the Jin language. In Mongolian , it is called Šar mörön ( Шар мөрөн 'yellow river') or Khatan gol ( Хатан гол 'queen river'). The river is mentioned in the Kul Tigin stele as the 'green river' ( Old Turkic : yašïl ügüz , 𐰖𐱁𐰞𐰽𐰺𐰍). The Tibetan name

5100-491: The end of 2017, the total population of Hebei was 75.2 million. In 2014, Hebei's gross domestic product (GDP) was 2.942 trillion yuan (US$ 479 billion). It is ranked sixth in the PRC , with its GDP per capita reaching 40,124 renminbi . As of 2011, the primary , secondary , and tertiary sectors of industry contributed 203.46 billion, 877.74 billion, and 537.66 billion RMB respectively. The registered urban unemployment rate

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5200-414: The first time. The Great Yan State was established in Hebei from 756 to 763 during the An Lushan Rebellion . After the rebellion, Lulong Jiedushi retained its autonomy from Tang during most of the 9th century. During the late Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period , Lulong was fragmented among several regimes including the short-lived Yan . It was eventually annexed in 913 by Li Cunxu , who established

5300-400: The flat North China Plain , sometimes taking a new channel and inundating most farmland, cities or towns in its path. The traditional Chinese response of building higher and higher levees along the banks sometimes also contributed to the severity of the floods: When flood water did break through the levees, it could no longer drain back into the river bed as it would after a normal flood, as

5400-464: The floods is the large amount of fine-grained loess carried by the river from the Loess Plateau , which is continuously deposited along the bottom of its channel. The sedimentation causes natural dams to slowly accumulate. These subaqueous dams are unpredictable and generally undetectable. Eventually, the enormous amount of water needs to find a new way to the sea, forcing it to take the path of least resistance . When this happens, it bursts out across

5500-398: The founding of the Ming dynasty . The course changed again in 1391 when the river flooded from Kaifeng to Fengyang in Anhui . It was finally stabilized by the eunuch Li Xing during the public works projects following the 1494 flood . The river flooded many times in the 16th century, including in 1526, 1534, 1558, and 1587. Each flood affected the river's lower course. The 1642 flood

5600-579: The largest lake in Hebei is Baiyangdian , located in Anxin County , Baoding . Major cities in Hebei include: Shijiazhuang , Baoding , Tangshan , Qinhuangdao , Handan , and Zhangjiakou . Hebei has a monsoon -influenced humid continental climate. Its winters are cold and dry, while its summers are hot and humid. Temperatures average −16 to −3 °C (3 to 27 °F) in January and 20 to 27 °C (68 to 81 °F) in July. The annual precipitation ranges from 400 to 800 mm (16 to 31 in), concentrated heavily in summer. The politics of Hebei

5700-433: The middle reaches, and the water flow is increased by 43.5% on this stage. The middle reaches contribute 92% of the river's silts. The middle stream of the Yellow River passes through the Loess Plateau , where substantial erosion takes place. The large amount of mud and sand discharged into the river makes the Yellow River the most sediment -laden river in the world. The highest recorded annual level of silts discharged into

5800-403: The mountains are the grasslands of Inner Mongolia . The highest peak is Mount Xiaowutai in Yu County in the northwest of the province, with an altitude of 2,882 m (9,455 ft). Hebei borders the Bohai Sea on the east. The Hai River watershed covers most of the province's central and southern parts; the Luan River watershed covers the northeast. Excluding manmade reservoirs,

5900-431: The national Ministry of Education: Under other national agencies: Under the provincial government: There are also Tibetan Buddhist schools in the province. Yellow River The Yellow River is the second-longest river in China and the sixth-longest river system on Earth, with an estimated length of 5,464 km (3,395 mi) and a watershed of 795,000 km (307,000 sq mi). Beginning in

6000-416: The northeast across the North China Plain before emptying into the Bohai Sea . The basin area in this stage is only 23,000 square kilometers (8,900 sq mi), a mere 3% of the total, because few tributaries add to the flow in this stage; nearly all rivers to the south drain into the Huai River , whereas those to the north drain into the Hai River . The Huai River Basin, for example, is separated from

6100-411: The northern part of Hebei, and its eastern end is located on the coast at Shanhaiguan (Shanhai Pass), near Qinhuangdao . Informally known as the First Pass of The World, Shanhaiguan Pass was where Ming general Wu Sangui opened the gates to Manchu forces in 1644, beginning nearly 300 years of Manchu rule. The Chengde Mountain Resort and its outlying temples are a World Heritage Site . Also known as

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6200-426: The old provincial capital, contains the historic Zhili governor's residence and the former court. Xibaipo , a village about 90 km (56 mi) from Shijiazhuang in Pingshan County , was the location of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and the headquarters of the People's Liberation Army during the decisive stages of the Chinese Civil War between May 26, 1948, and March 23, 1949. Today,

6300-474: The past century, each causing tremendous loss of life and property. Nowadays, explosives dropped from aircraft are used to break the ice dams before they become dangerous. Before modern dams appeared in China, the Yellow River used to be extremely prone to flooding. In the 2,540 years from 595 BC to 1946 AD, the Yellow River has been reckoned to have flooded 1,593 times, shifting its course 26 times noticeably and nine times severely. These floods include some of

6400-482: The present course of the Yellow River include (from west to east) Lanzhou , Yinchuan , Wuhai , Baotou , Luoyang , Zhengzhou , Kaifeng , and Jinan . The current mouth of the Yellow River is located at Kenli County , Shandong. The river is commonly divided into three stages. These are roughly the northeast of the mountainous Tibetan Plateau , the Ordos Loop and Loess Plateau , and the North China Plain . However, different scholars have different opinions on how

6500-415: The present course. The river left these paths in 602 BC and shifted several hundred kilometers to the east. Sabotage of dikes, canals, and reservoirs and deliberate flooding of rival states became a standard military tactic during the Warring States period . As the Yellow River valley was the major entryway to the Guanzhong area and the state of Qin from the North China Plain , Qin heavily fortified

6600-431: The previous course – using over 35,000 employees, 100,000 conscripts, and 220,000 tons of wood and bamboo in a single year  – before abandoning the project in 1041. The more sluggish river then occasioned a breach at Shanghu that sent the main outlet north towards Tianjin in 1048. In 1128, Song troops under the Kaifeng governor Du Chong ( 杜 充 , Dù Chōng , d.   1141) breached

6700-418: The pronunciation of some words, made by entering tone syllables (syllables ending on a plosive ) in Middle Chinese . Traditional forms of Chinese opera in Hebei include Pingju , Hebei Bangzi (Hebei Clapper Opera), and Cangzhou Kuaiban Dagu . Pingju is especially popular because it tends to use colloquial language which is easier for audiences to understand. Originating from northeastern Hebei, Pingju

6800-475: The province of Zhili was abolished and given its present name of Hebei. Peking Man , an early pre-historic Homo erectus , lived on the plains of Hebei around 200,000 to 700,000 years ago. Neolithic findings at the prehistoric Beifudi site date to 7000 and 8000 BC. Many early Chinese myths are set in the province. Fuxi , one of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors , is said to have lived in present-day Xingtai . The mythical Battle of Zhuolu , won by

6900-426: The province with the establishment of the Xiong'an New Area, which integrates the three municipalities. Hebei is the only province in China to contain plateaus, mountains, hills, shorelines, plains, and lakes. Most of central and southern Hebei lies within the North China Plain . Western Hebei rises into the Taihang Mountains (Taihang Shan), while the Yan Mountains (Yan Shan) runs through northern Hebei. Beyond

7000-441: The rainy season from July to October, when 60% of the annual volume of the river flows. Maximum demand for irrigation is needed between March and June. In order to capture excess water for use when needed and for flood control and electricity generation, several dams have been built, but their expected life is limited due to the high silt load. A proposed South–North Water Transfer Project involves several schemes to divert water from

7100-423: The regions along the river are mostly deserts and grasslands, with very few tributaries. The flow is slow. The Hetao Plain has a length of 900 km (560 mi) and width of 30 to 50 km (19 to 31 mi). It is historically the most important irrigation plain along the Yellow River. The Ordos Loop formed by an enormous twist of the Yellow River, beginning at Zhongning County in Ningxia and ending with

7200-588: The resting place of 161 Qing emperors, empresses, and other members of the Qing imperial family, while the West Qing Tombs have 76 burials. Both tomb complexes are part of a World Heritage Site . The Zhaozhou , or Anji Bridge , was built by Li Chun during the Sui dynasty and is the oldest stone arch bridge in China. It is one of the most significant examples of pre-modern Chinese civil engineering . Baoding ,

7300-554: The river bed was sometimes now higher than the surrounding countryside. These changes could cause the river's mouth to shift as much as 480 km (300 mi), sometimes reaching the ocean to the north of the Shandong Peninsula and sometimes to the south. Another historical source of devastating floods is the collapse of upstream ice dams in Inner Mongolia with an accompanying sudden release of vast quantities of impounded water. There have been 11 such major floods in

7400-469: The river has also caused much destruction, including multiple floods that have resulted in the deaths of over one million people. Among the deadliest were the 1332–33 flood or 1344 Yellow River flood during the Yuan dynasty , the 1887 flood during the Qing dynasty which killed anywhere from 900,000 to 2 million people, and a Republic of China era 1931 flood (part of a massive number of floods that year ) that killed 1–4 million people. The cause of

7500-587: The river increased the water's power and this in turn increased its ability to flush sediment. The difficult situation around the confluence of the Yellow River, the Huai, and the Grand Canal, however, still led to a major flood of the regional center Sizhou and Pan's dismissal from court. Subsequently, the river's 1680 flood entirely submerged Sizhou and the nearby Ming Zuling tombs beneath Hongze Lake for centuries until modern irrigation and flood control lowered

7600-566: The river repeatedly broke its levees and migrated north and west, officials battled over whether expensive measures should be taken to return the river to its former channels. The Shenzong emperor ultimately decreed that the river be allowed to remain in its new course. Traditional flood control techniques made use of levees , revetments to absorb the energy of the water, overflow basins, drainage canals and polders . Treatises on traditional flood control techniques were written by officials such as Pan Jixun , who argued that joining branches of

7700-693: The river skirts through the high-altitude peat bog known as the Zoigê Wetlands and makes a sharp turn towards the northwest forming the border between Maqu and Zoigê County in Sichuan . Flowing now along the northern edge of Amne Machin, the river reenters Qinghai and gradually curves north towards the Longyang Gorge at Xinghai . The valley section stretches from Longyang Gorge in Qinghai to Qingtong Gorge in Gansu. Steep cliffs line both sides of

7800-501: The river. The water bed is narrow and the average drop is large, so the flow in this section is extremely turbulent and fast. There are 20 gorges in this section, the most famous of these being the Longyang , Jishi, Liujia , Bapan, and Qingtong gorges. The flow conditions in this section makes it the best location for hydroelectric plants. The Yellow River exits Qinghai for the second and final time in these gorges and enters Gansu for

7900-423: The riverbed which flows between natural levees in its lower reaches. Should a flood occur, the river may break out of the levees into the surrounding lower flood plain and take a new channel. Historically this has occurred about once every hundred years. In modern times, considerable effort has been made to strengthen levees and control floods. Below is an incomplete list of hydroelectric power stations built on

8000-837: The sea. Since 2003, China has been working on the South–North Water Transfer Project to alleviate the strain on the river's water supply. When the Yellow River was still somewhat clear, it was simply referred to as 'the river' ( 河 , Old Chinese : *gâi ). Observations made at the Yumenkou gorge, where the river leaves the modern Loess Plateau , indicated the river changed to muddy sometime between 367 BC and 165 AD, according to chronicles' records. The alternative names 'murky river' ( 濁河 , *drôk-gâi ) and '(muddy) yellow river' ( 黃河 , *gwâŋ-gâi ) were attested in 145 BC and in 429 AD respectively. The name Yellow River fully replaces Murky River by

8100-491: The sea. The low volume is due to increased agricultural irrigation, increased by a factor of five since 1950. Water diverted from the river as of 1999 served 140 million people and irrigated 74,000 km (29,000 sq mi) of land. The Yellow River delta totals 8,000 square kilometers (3,100 square miles). However, with the decrease in silt reaching the sea, it has been reported to be shrinking slightly each year since 1996 through erosion. The highest volume occurs during

8200-592: The second time just before Liujia Gorge. Downstream from the Yanguo Gorge, the provincial capital of Lanzhou is built upon the Yellow River's banks. The Yellow River flows northeasterly out of Gansu and into Ningxia before the Qingtong Gorge. After emerging from the Qingtong Gorge, the river comes into a section of vast alluvial plains , the Yinchuan Plain and Hetao Plain . In this section,

8300-643: The southeast. Its length is about 600 km. One subsidiary is the Yixun He , which runs through Hebei. During its course, the Luan also passes by the Great Wall. After Chengde, the river is navigable. The largest city along the river's course is Chengde . Geological evidence such as the presence of suevite suggests there is an impact crater in the area. It is estimated to be between 70 and 170 km in diameter with an age of 129 ± 3 Ma. The circular course of Luan River as it goes from Inner Mongolia back to Hebei

8400-501: The southern bank of the Yellow River, but did not stop them from reaching their goal of capturing Wuhan , which was the temporary seat of the Chinese government and straddles the Yangtze River . In 1954, the People's Republic of China announced its General Plan to Fundamentally Control Yellow River Flood Disasters and Develop Yellow River Waterworks. It sought to address both flooding risks and to convert rainfall-fed fields of

8500-424: The southern counterpart, and Hebei became known as Zhili or Directly Ruled. During the Qing dynasty, the northern borders of Zhili extended deep into Inner Mongolia and overlapped in jurisdiction with the leagues of Inner Mongolia. The Qing dynasty collapsed in 1912 and was replaced by the Republic of China . In a few years, China descended into a civil war, with regional warlords vying for power. Since Zhili

8600-642: The southern dikes of the Yellow River in an effort to stop the advancing Jin army. The resulting major river avulsion allowed the Yellow to capture the Si and other tributaries of the Huai River . For the first time in recorded history, the Yellow River shifted completely south of Shandong Peninsula and flowed into the Yellow Sea . By 1194, the mouth of the Huai had been blocked. The buildup of silt deposits

8700-693: The three stages are divided. This article mainly adopts the division used by the Yellow River Conservancy Commission . The Yellow River derived sediments have been transported out of the Bohai Sea, all way to the North Yellow Sea and South Yellow Sea, and formed a Distal Depocenter around the Shandong Peninsula. The upper reaches of the Yellow River constitute a segment starting from its source in

8800-420: The total population. The largest ethnic groups are Manchu (2.1 million people), Hui (600,000 people), and Mongol (180,000 people). Population totals do not include those in active service with the People's Liberation Army . In 2019, the birth rate was 10.83 births per 1,000 people, while the death rate was 6.12 deaths per 1,000 people. The male population is 37,679,003 (50.50%), the female population

8900-649: The two largest plateau freshwater lakes nationwide. A significant amount of land in the Yellow River's source area has been designated as the Sanjiangyuan ("'Three Rivers' Sources") National Nature Reserve , to protect the source region of the Yellow River, the Yangtze , and the Mekong . Flowing east at the eastern edge of the Amne Machin Mountains, the Yellow River enters Maqu County in Gansu . Here,

9000-727: The victor of the two, but he was defeated by Cao Cao in the Battle of Guandu in 200. Hebei came under the rule of the Kingdom of Wei , established by the descendants of Cao Cao. After the invasions of northern nomadic peoples at the end of the Western Jin dynasty , chaos ensued in the Sixteen Kingdoms and the Northern and Southern dynasties . Because of its location on the northern frontier, Hebei changed hands many times and

9100-506: The water level enough to permit their excavation and the tombs' restoration. Between 1851 and 1855 , the Yellow River returned to the north amid the floods that provoked the Nien and Taiping Rebellions . The 1887 flood has been estimated to have killed between 900,000 and 2 million people, and is the second-worst natural disaster in history (excluding famines and epidemics). The Yellow River more or less adopted its present course during

9200-599: Was 3.96%. Hebei's industries include textiles , coal , steel , iron , engineering, chemical production, petroleum, power, ceramics , and food. 40% of Hebei's labor force works in the agriculture, forestry, and animal husbandry sectors, with the majority of production from these industries going to Beijing and Tianjin . Hebei's main agricultural products are cereal crops, including wheat , maize , millet , and sorghum . Cash crops like cotton , peanut , soybeans and sesame are also produced. Hebei has abundant natural resources. The Kailuan mine in Tangshan , with

9300-514: Was controlled at various times by Later Zhao , Former Yan , Former Qin , and Later Yan . The Northern Wei reunified northern China in 440 but split in 534, with Hebei coming under Eastern Wei ; then the Northern Qi , with its capital at Ye near modern Linzhang , Hebei. The Sui dynasty again unified China in 589. During the Tang dynasty (618–907), the area was officially called Hebei for

9400-456: Was created in 1928. Five UNESCO World Heritage Sites can be found in the province: the Great Wall of China , Chengde Mountain Resort , Grand Canal , Eastern Qing tombs , and Western Qing tombs . It is also home to five National Famous Historical and Cultural Cities : Handan , Baoding , Chengde , Zhengding and Shanhaiguan . Hebei's economy is based on agriculture and manufacturing; it

9500-459: Was influenced by other forms of Chinese opera such as Beijing opera . Traditionally Pingju has a xiaosheng (young male lead), a xiaodan (young female lead), and a xiaohualian (young comic character), though it has diversified to include other roles. Quyang County , in central Hebei, is noted for Ding ware , a type of Chinese ceramics which includes various vessels such as bowls, plates, vases, and cups, as well as figurines. Ding ware

9600-505: Was man-made, caused by the attempt of the Ming governor of Kaifeng to use the river to destroy the peasant rebels under Li Zicheng who had been besieging the city for the past six months. He directed his men to break the dikes in an attempt to flood the rebels, but destroyed his own city instead: the flood and the ensuing famine and plague are estimated to have killed 300,000 of the city's previous population of 378,000. The once-prosperous city

9700-521: Was nearly abandoned until its rebuilding under the Kangxi Emperor in the Qing dynasty . The question of how aggressively flooding should be controlled, and whether it should be steered back to its original channels when it migrated, was a topic of controversy in the imperial court. Rival cliques made arguments based on budgetary, technical and strategic criteria. Geographer Charles Greer identifies two competing schools of thought on how to control

9800-455: Was reduced, with the major fortifications and military bases moved upriver to Tongguan . In AD 923, the desperate Later Liang general Duan Ning again broke the dikes, flooding 1,000 square miles (2,600 km ) in a failed attempt to protect his realm's capital from the Later Tang . A similar proposal from the Song engineer Li Chun concerning flooding the lower reaches of the river to protect

9900-736: Was so close to the capital of Beijing , it was the site of the Zhiwan War , the First Zhifeng War , and the Second Zhifeng War . With the success of the Northern Expedition in 1926 and 1927 by the Kuomintang , the capital was moved from Beijing to Nanjing . As a result, the province's name was changed to Hebei, reflecting the relocation of the capital and its standard provincial administration. During

10000-462: Was such that even after the Yellow River later shifted its course, the Huai could no longer flow along its historic course, but instead, its water pools into Hongze Lake and then runs southward toward the Yangtze River . A flood in 1344 returned the Yellow River south of Shandong. The Yuan dynasty was waning, and the emperor forced enormous teams to build new embankments for the river. The terrible conditions helped to fuel rebellions that led to

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