Hwang+He+Yellow+River

**__Basics__**
====The river is 5,464 kilometers, or 3,395 miles long. It is the 2nd longest river in China, and the 6th longest in the world. The river runs through nine Chinese provinces and is considered to be the cradle of Chinese civilization by most Chinese. The Huang He River is also known as the Yellow River because it carries a large amount of sediment, giving it a Yellow color.====

__**Huang He River Valley Civilization**__
====The Huang He River Valley Civilization was a river-valley civilization that existed in early classical China. The early classical civilization was isolated from a lot of contact with other civilizations because of its location far from other civilizations. The little contact they did have with other civilizations was limited trading with India and the Middle East, therefore not much is known about its history besides Chinese myths. These elaborate myths, called P'An Ku by the Chinese people, were of legendary god-kings.====

__Technology__
====The early civilization developed advanced technology for its time, creating and mastering the techniques of horse-riding, pottery, and the forging of bronze and iron around 2000 B.C. They also created writing and reading systems using series of knots and scratches on bones until they finally created ideographic symbols. They also had an interest in science, something unique for early societies. They studied astronomy, the science of stars and planets. While they had advanced technology and science, they lived in simple mud huts. They did not create any advanced architecture until around 1500 B.C., when a line of Shang kings began constructing elaborate tombs and palaces. The society was then invaded by the northern Chinese nomads, which halted the advance of their civilization.====

**__Floods__**
====Over the course of history, the river is estimated to have flooded over 1,500 times. Some of the most major floods and most recent floods occurred in 1887, 1931, and 1938. Collectively, the floods killed millions of people and are considered some of the most deadly floods and even some of the most deadly natural disasters in recorded history. The most catastrophic flooding of the Huang He River occurred in August of 1931, when 34,000 square miles of land were flooded. This left about 80 million people homeless. Estimates of people dead ranged from 850,000 to 4,000,000 people. The country of China has tried many ways to control the River by building overflow channels and taller dikes. In 1955, China started a 50 year construction/flood control plan. This program included extensive dike repairing and building, reforestation, and construction of a series of dams to control river flow as well as create a source of electricity and supply irrigation water.====

__**Pollution**__
====Due to the number of major cities and towns along the River, Air Pollution is a major problem. Some of these cities are Hohhot, Zhengzhou, and Jinan. Aerosols get trapped in the various river Valleys along the Huang He, creating a smog trapping effect similar to that of the Inland Empire in California.====



[[file:Bibliography-Huang%20He[1].doc]]
//Trent Ball, Vito Mastrangelo//