What is the history of the Yellow River? Please tell me the main content and make it brief;.

In short:

The Yellow River is the second largest river in my country and has been a sediment-laden river since ancient times. In the 4th century BC, the lower reaches of the Yellow River were known as the "Zhuo River" because of the turbid water. At the beginning of the 1st century AD, someone pointed out that "the water in the river is so turbid that one stone equals six buckets of mud." After the Tang and Song Dynasties, sedimentation increased unabated. Part of this silt accumulates on the downstream river bed. Over time, the river bed becomes high and restricted by embankments, forming a hanging river over time. Every time there is a heavy flood in autumn, if the defense is not effective, the river will overflow and the river will be diverted. According to historical records, in the three to four thousand years before 1946, the lower reaches of the Yellow River burst and flooded 1,593 times, the river course was changed 26 times due to flooding, and there were more than 1,000 breaches. The floods reached from the Haihe River in the north to the Huaihe River in the south, spanning 250,000 square kilometers, and had a huge impact on the geographical environment of China's Huanghuaihai Plain.

In detail:

In terms of the characteristics of the course changes in the lower reaches of the Yellow River, it can be roughly divided into the following stages.

① Before the embankment was built during the Warring States Period

The upper limit roughly began in the Neolithic Age. At that time, the lower reaches of the Yellow River flowed through the Hebei Plain and entered the sea on the west bank of the Bohai Bay. Because no embankments were built on both sides, the river course was extremely unstable. According to literature records, the Yellow River has flowed back and forth many times, including three channels recorded in "Yu Gong", "Book of Mountains and Seas Beishan Jing" and "Hanshu Geography". The first two are in the west of the Hebei Plain, flowing north along the foothills of the Taihang Mountains. The lower reaches of the "Shan Jing" River flow roughly north to the southern edge of the alluvial fan of the Yongding River, eastward through the line of Xiongxian and Baxian, and finally enter the sea near Tianjin today. According to "Yu Gong", the lower reaches of the river flowed separately from the "Shan Jing" river in today's Shen County, passing through the central part of the present-day Hebei Plain and entering the sea to the east of Qing County; "Han Zhi" said that the river left the eastern foot of Taihang Mountain and passed through northeastern Henan and Northwest Shandong, southeast Hebei, and northeast to Huanghua County where it enters the sea. Before the middle period of the Warring States Period, the three rivers mentioned above were either primary or secondary, or existed at the same time, but the most common ones were the rivers flowing through the "Han Chronicles". In ancient times, "river" was the proper name for the Yellow River. According to records in "Han Chronicles" and "Shui Jing Zhu", there are more than 10 waterways called "rivers" on the Hebei Plain, all of which may be the old paths of the Yellow River after a certain break-up and migration.

② From the 4th century BC to the early AD (from the middle of the Warring States Period to the end of the Western Han Dynasty)

In the middle of the Warring States Period, after large-scale embankments were built downstream, the fixed river course was the "Geography of Hanshu 2" The great river recorded in the "Zhi" has since ended the long-term situation of multiple diversions and frequent diversions. We are temporarily regarded as the first major diversion of the Yellow River.

In the middle of the Warring States Period, the lower reaches of the Yellow River were sparsely populated. When the embankment was first built, the distance between the two banks was as wide as 50 miles (1 mile is equivalent to 414 meters today), and the large stream (the main stream of water) had to be within the embankment. Wandering, the river has strong flood storage capacity and is not prone to breaches. Later, as the population increased, the large tracts of beach land silted out on both sides of the river channel in the embankment were cultivated, and residential buildings were built for self-defense. The far ones were several miles away from the water, and the nearest ones were only a few hundred steps away. As a result, the river bed was constrained, the river body became winding, the river silted up quickly, and dangers emerged one after another. At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, the rivers in present-day Junxian County, Henan Province, had "water levels higher than the flat ground" and had obviously become "hanging rivers". This is the result of the intensification of soil erosion in the middle reaches of the Yellow River since the Qin and Han Dynasties. In 11 AD, during the reign of Wang Mang, the Yellow River broke out again in the east, and floods between the river and the Huai River lasted for 60 years.

③ From the 1st to the 10th century AD (Eastern Han Dynasty to the end of Tang Dynasty)

In 11 AD (the third year after Wang Mang founded the country), the Yellow River burst above Yuancheng of Wei County (now Daming East, Hebei Province). The river flooded to several counties east of Qinghe County. At that time, Wang Mang did not advocate blocking the river because the river would flow eastward and his ancestral graves in Yuancheng would not be threatened. He believed that the floods had lasted for nearly sixty years, thus causing the second major diversion of the Yellow River in history.

After that, for nearly a thousand years, the lower reaches of the Yellow River experienced a relatively stable situation, with occasional overflows and no large-scale diversions. The reasons are:

First, a large number of nomadic peoples settled in the middle reaches of the Yellow River since the Eastern Han Dynasty. Farmland was converted to grazing, secondary grasslands and shrubs replaced cultivated land, and soil erosion was relatively reduced.

Secondly, in 70 AD, under the leadership of Wang Jing, a comprehensive management of the overflowing river water at the end of the Western Han Dynasty was completed, and a new river course was fixed, which generally flowed through the junction area of ??Hebei and Shandong, starting from Changshoujin (today's Changshoujin) Puyang Xiwangbin area), it started from the Western Han Dynasty River, followed the ancient Luoshui River, passed south of present-day Fan County, branched off from the ancient Luohe River in present-day Yanggu County, passed between the present-day Yellow River and Majia River, and is now in Lijin County, Shandong Province. into the sea.

Thirdly, there were many branches in the lower reaches of the Yellow River at that time, which either entered the sea alone or flowed into other rivers. There were also some large and small lakes and swamps along the way, which all played the role of flood diversion, sand discharge and flow regulation.

④ From the 10th century to 1127 AD (from the end of the Tang Dynasty to the end of the Northern Song Dynasty)

After nearly a thousand years of accumulation, starting from the end of the Tang Dynasty, the mouth of the lower reaches of the Yellow River had gradually silted up. In 893 AD (the second year of Jingfu in the Tang Dynasty), the river mouth section was diverted for nearly a hundred miles. By the Five Dynasties period, the frequency of ruptures had increased significantly, with an average of one general rupture in less than three years.

By the beginning of the 11th century, in today's Shanghe, Huimin, and Binzhou cities and counties in Shandong, the rivers were "higher than the houses of the people". After that, the location of the breach moved up to Chanzhou (now Puyang, Henan) and Huazhou (now the east old city of Huaxian County). The general trend is that the river gradually swings northward. The Chihe River and the Henglong River, which were determined at the end of the Five Dynasties and the early Northern Song Dynasty, were both north of the great rivers in the Tang Dynasty.

In 1048, Shang Huxun (today's Dongchanghuji in Puyang) broke through. It flowed north between today's Fuyang River and Nanyun River, and downstream joined Yuhe River (today's Nanyun River) and Jiehe River (today's Haihe River). Today, when Jinjin enters the sea, it is known as the "Northern Yellow River School" in history. This is the third major diversion in the history of the Yellow River. (There are three major rivers in the north of the Yellow River: Shanghuxi, Xiaowuxi, and Neihuangkou)

⑤ 1128 to the middle of the 16th century (from the Jin and Yuan Dynasties to the Jiajing and Wanli periods of the Ming Dynasty)

In 1128 (the second year of Jianyan in the Southern Song Dynasty), in order to prevent the Jin soldiers from going south, Du Chong, who stayed in Tokyo in the Song Dynasty, actually dug a river in the southwest of Hua County, Henan Province, causing the Yellow River to flow eastward through northeastern Henan and southwest Shandong, and merged into Si River, seize Si River and enter Huaihe River. From then on, the Yellow River left its old path that had flowed through the Jun and Hua areas since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and no longer entered the Hebei Plain. In the following 700 years, it usually flowed into the Huaihe River from the southeast. This is an epoch-making event in the history of changes in the lower reaches of the Yellow River, and it is also the fourth major diversion of the Yellow River.

The area between the dredging and slipping areas was originally a narrow channel in the lower reaches of the Yellow River. Due to the control of this section of the river, the swing range of the following river channels after the breach is basically limited to the Hebei Plain east of the Taihang Mountains and north of the Shandong hills. After leaving this section of the river, the downstream river turns east or southeast, swinging from northeastern Henan to southwestern Shandong. In the Jin Dynasty, among the 12 recorded breaches, the river swing after the breach accounted for 10 times in this area.

In October 1286 (the twenty-third year of the Yuan Dynasty), the Yellow River flowed through Yuanwu, Yangwu, Zhongmou, Yanjin, Kaifeng, Xiangfu, Qixian, Suizhou, Chenliu, Tongxu, and Taikang , Weishi, Weichuan, Yanling, Fugou and other 15 execution sites. It can be roughly divided into three streams; one stream turns south in Zhongmou, passes through Weishi, Weichuan, Fugou, Yanling and other places, and enters the Huaihe River from Yingshui River; one stream turns south in Kaifeng, passes through Tongxu, Tai Kang and other places enter the Huaihe River from the vortex. We call this the fifth major diversion of the Yellow River in history. From the Jin and Yuan Dynasties to the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the characteristics of the Yellow River's changes can be summarized as the following three points:

First, the breach location moved westward. At first, most of the breaches were in present-day Shandong (in the 1250s and 1260s), and later moved westward to the Ji County, Yangwu (eastern part of today's Yuanyang), and Yanjin areas in Henan (in the 1280s and 90s). By the 1370s to the 1340s, the breach had moved to the areas of Xinxiang, Yuanwu (now west of Yuanyang), and Yingze (now Xiguxing Town, Zhengzhou City), almost to the top of the alluvial plain of the lower reaches of the Yellow River.

Second, the main stream of the river gradually swings southward. After the mid-12th century, the river passed through northeastern Henan and southwest Shandong, and now flows into Sishui in Liangshan County, Shandong. After that, it gradually swings southward and enters the Kaifeng and Shangqiu areas in eastern Henan, passing through Dangshan and Xiaoxian in Anhui to seize Sirutan in Xuzhou, Jiangsu. During the Jin and Yuan Dynasties, there were two man-made river crossings, either from Sui Seo Si or from the eddy to the Huai River. In the late 13th century, a section of the river diverted the Ying River into the Huai River, reaching the southwest limit of the fan-shaped plain in the lower reaches of the Yellow River.

Thirdly, in addition to the main stream, the downstream river channel also branches into several branches, which alternate between primary and secondary and change indefinitely. Since the second half of the 12th century (Jin Dading period), the situation of "two rivers diverging" has emerged. Later, it was divided into three streams, all of which flowed roughly north of the current line of the abandoned Yellow River and merged into the Si River, and then merged into the Si River and entered the Huaihe River. By the second half of the 13th century (early Yuan Dynasty), there were several strands in the downstream that were seizing Sui, vortex, and Ying entering the Huaihe River. Afterwards, it either flows into Si in the east, or flows into Huaihe in the south. Sometimes it flows northeast into the Majia River, Tuhai River, and Beiqing River (today's Yellow River below Dongping, Shandong) and enters the sea. Several stocks often run in parallel, one after another, and the changes are extremely chaotic. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty (1351), when Jialu was regulating the river, he once regulated a river channel from Fengqiu in Henan to the east to Duosi in Xuzhou and into the Huaihe River, which was called the Jialu River in history. It soon fell into disrepair.

⑥ The mid-16th century to 1854 (the fifth year of Xianfeng in the Qing Dynasty)

The situation of multiple diversions in the lower reaches of the Yellow River basically ended by the mid-16th century (the middle of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty). "The whole river flows out of Xu and Pi, and Si flows into the Huai River." This is a major change in the river flow. Later, in the early years of Wanli, Pan Jixun implemented the river management policy of "building embankments to contain water and using water to attack sand". The downstream river course was basically fixed, which is the abandoned Yellow River on the current map. Although there was a decisive overflow later. But he soon returned to his old ways. In the early Qing Dynasty, embankments were built on a large scale. The rivers in Henan experienced a period of relatively stable flow, while the number of river breaches in Shandong and Jiangsu increased. The river section from Xuzhou to Huaiyin in Jiangsu Province also serves as a canal, which is "the most important lifeline of the throat." The focus of Pan Jixun's river management is on this section of the river, such as overhauling the weir embankment, grid embankment, moon embankment, and remote embankment on both sides, rebuilding Gaojia Weir, raising the water level of Hongze Lake, and storing clear water and brushing it with yellow water. By the early Qing Dynasty, the center of gravity of river disasters had shifted downward from Huaiyin to the river mouth. This was because after the Jin and Yuan Dynasties, the Yellow River had long diverted the Huai River into the sea, and a large amount of sediment was discharged into the sea mouth. The river mouth continued to extend, causing the slope to change and accelerating the sedimentation of the river channel above the river mouth. Therefore, after the 18th century, river disasters were most concentrated below Xuzhou. After the 19th century, the river channel became silted up, bursts occurred year after year, and there was also domestic political turmoil. River management was ineffective, and new diversions were inevitable.

⑦ 1855 (the fifth year of Xianfeng in the Qing Dynasty) to before the 1950s

In June 1855, the Yellow River broke through Tongwaxiang in Lanyang, Henan Province, and first flooded to the northwest Fengqiu and Xiangfu counties and villages, and then flows eastward to Lanyi, Kaocheng, Changyuan and other counties, and is divided into three streams: one leaves the Zhaowang River in the east of Caozhou and reaches Zhangqiu Chuanyun; one passes through Changyuan County and flows When arriving at Leijiazhuang, Dongming County, it is divided into two streams, both of which flow northeast to Zhangqiu Town. After the three streams merge, they pass through the Zhangqiu Canal, flow into the Daqing River through the Buyan River, and enter the sea through Lijin Oyster Mouth. This is the sixth major diversion of the Yellow River. The course of the lower reaches of the Yellow River, according to the current administrative divisions of China, generally passes through Xingyang, Zhengzhou, Yuanyang, Yanjin, Fengqiu, Zhongmou, Kaifeng, Lankao and Puyang in Henan, and then passes through Caoxian and Shanxian in Shandong, and then through Dangshan, Xiaoxian in Anhui, and finally Fengxian, Peixian, Xuzhou, Pixian, Suining, Suqian, Siyang, Huaian, Lianshui, Funing, Binhai and then into the Yellow Sea in Jiangsu. However, after the change of course, after the gap in the Tongwaxiang, the Yellow River broke through the original river course, changed its direction to the northeast, and entered the Bohai Sea through the Daqing River in Shandong. This breach brought an end to the more than 700-year history of the lower reaches of the Yellow River flowing from the Huai River to the sea, and returned to flowing into the sea from the Bohai Bay. In the following 20 years, the flood flowed freely on the alluvial fan of the delta with Tongwa Xiang as the apex, reaching Beijindi in the north, Caoxian and Dangshan lines in the south, and the canal in the east. The water was scattered and flowing indefinitely. It was not until 1876 that the entire river embankment was completed, and the current lower reaches of the Yellow River were basically formed. In the downstream section of the river from Tongwaxiang to Taochengbu, bursts often occur, so it is known as "Tofu waist".

In June 1938, the Kuomintang government passively resisted Japan. The Huayuankou embankment was artificially opened in an attempt to use floods to prevent the Japanese invaders from advancing westward. This breach caused the Yellow River to flood southward between the Jialu River, Ying River and Wohe River, causing a serious disaster rarely seen in history. This is also the seventh major diversion in the history of the Yellow River.

The problem of weathering has become more and more serious recently. Now experts say that if humans continue to deforestation, the source of the Yellow River is likely to be submerged in wind and sand. The Yellow River is the origin of the Chinese nation, but the source of this river, known as the mother river, is surrounded by barren mountains and is surrounded by wind and sand.

Experts point out that human beings’ unnatural lifestyle and indiscriminate deforestation are the main reasons for destroying water sources. This ecosystem with a history of thousands of years is facing collapse, and it is also likely to become another disaster caused by the destruction of human civilization. A ruins.

It is the frequent flooding of the Yellow River that creates disasters, which has created the Chinese nation's character of "being prepared for danger in times of peace." Chinese civilization also began with the arduous struggle of Dayu to control the water and guide the river into the sea. So many dynasties had river management institutions. The Republic of China still had institutions such as the "Yellow River Water Conservancy Commission". This was It is very rare among the world's major rivers. It can be said that the Yellow River has played a decisive role in shaping the character of the Chinese nation and guiding the direction of Chinese civilization.