The Feat of The Yellow River

The Yellow River runs ceaselessly day and night. lt has nurtured The Chinese nation and bred the Chinese civilization. The Yellow River is what we proud of the most.

The Yellow River from its place of origin passes Qinghai and Gansu, turns north at Ningxia's Shizuishaa to Inner Mongolia. Then the Yellow River be comes mild and quiet. The Yellow River's flow has brought the grasslands with lushness and richness.

Inner Mongolia is a beautiful and charming place, decorated by colorful mountains, rivers, forests, grasslands, deserts and lakes. In pleasantly cool sum mer and autumn days, the vast grasslands beyond the Gteat Wall are more grace ful and enchanting. Inner Mongolia has always eflioyed the reputation of being the home of singing and dancing. Horse racing, wrestling and archery are regarded as "the three skill of men" among the Mongolian people and well-known in China and abroad.

The traditional Nadamu Fair has a rich flavour of power and competicion. The valiant, industri ous and intelligent Mongolian people have created che bright grassland civili zacion and left numerous ancient relics and historic sites. The most attractiflg one is the Mausoleum of Genghis Khan in the Ortos Grassland, a must place that all tourists visit.

Left the grasslands, the Yellow River heads its way south and comes to the Loess Plateau. Thg fierce water of the Yel low River as a sharp sword cuts the pla teau into two pieces. The deep gorge it made becomes the natural demarcation between Shanxi Province and Shaanxi Province. This is the Jin-Shaan Gorge as it is usually called.

At the valley bgtween Ji County of Shanxi and Yichuan County of Shaanxi, the Yellow River creates the Hukou Wa terfall, the second largest waterfall in China. The pouring water of rhe Yellow River from the height of 70 meters falls to the stone valley which is only 40 metres in width, splashing high spray with thundering noises.

On the Shanxi side of the Jin-Shaan Gorge, the landscape is splendid and beautiful. The long history has left Shanxi abundant cultufal hetitages and wonder ful tourist sites.

The legendary monarchs of Yao, Shun and Yu all founded their capitals in Shanxi. The well-known Nanshan Temple and Buddhist Light Temple in the Wutai Mountain were built in the Tang Dynasty. The Wood Pagoda of the Liao Dynasty in Ying County, the mu rals in the Yongle Palace of the Yuan Dynasty, the Yungang Grottoes in Datong, the Old Stone Age relics in Dingcun and Xujiayao, relics of the Yangshao culture, the ancient city in Pingyao, the Nine Dragon Wall in Datong, as well as ancieflt murals, painted sculptures, carved stones and glazed products scattered all over the province are all valuable historic and cul tural treasures. Shanxi is also well-known as "the cradle of China's traditional op eras". Many traditional operas, with dif ferent types, simple and unconstrained styles, have been handed down from the ancient times. The rich tourist resources in Shanxi have been attracting more and more domestic and foreign tourists com ing for sight-seeing, root-seeking and novelty-hunting.

In the Jin-Shaan Gorge, the Yellow River is blocked by the Qin Mountains and turns to the western Henan. Its rap ids cut off the solid rocks at Shaan County and made the precipitous Sanmenxia Gorge.

At Mengjin County the Yellow River enters the grand plains created by itself and then winds its way eastward. The huge amount of silt the Yellow River brought from the Loess Plateau was deposited in the plains and made the ri verbed higher and higher and becomes the world-famous "suspension river".

The ancient Chinese people lived for generations in this old land made by the Yellow River and created the brilliant Chinese ancient culture, left us abundant cultural heritages. The ancient walls, tombs, atchitectures, catved stones are scattered over the Central Plains. They like pearls inlaid the Central Plains re flect the glory of the ancient Chinese civi lization.

The Central Plains is a museum of the history of the Chinese people. You can see the relics of primitive man in Yunyang of Nanzhao and in Xiaonanhai of Anyang, as well as the cultural relics in the Yangshao Village of Mianchi County and in the Dahe Village of Zhengzhou City.

The Central Plains, the center of the land, was a place contested by all mili- tary force of every dynasty. lt was also ideal for different dynasties to found their capitals in the plains. Luoyang was the capital for nine dynasties.

The White Hotse Temple in Luoyang, built in the Han Dynasty, may be rated as the first Buddhist temple in the Central Plains. The Longmen Grottoes, shaped from the Northern Wei Dynasty to the Tang Dy nasty, has the reputation as one of the three Buddhist art treasure-houses in China. Kaifeng was the capital for seven dynasties.

The famous relics such as the Iron Pagoda, the Dragon Pavilion the Xiangguo Temple are acclaimed by visi tors as the acme ofperfection. The Street of the Song Capital gives tourists a place to experience the custom of the Song Dynasty. Anyang was the capital for five dynasties.

The numerous colorful relics in the Museum of the Yin Dynasty Ru Qufu is the hometown of Confucious ins display the custom, politics and cul ture in the Yin Dynasty. The Gully of Ten Thousand Buddhas, or the Wanfogou, is the largest forest of pago das with reliefs.

Zhengzhou, the earliest capital of the Shang Dynasty was found so far, is the birthplace oftrade activities in China. With the long history of trade, Zhengzhou has become the famous busi ness city in the Central Plains.

The numerous famous cultural cit ies and historic sites in the Central Plains form a colorful humane scenery and at tract visitors from China and other coun tries.

Left che Central Plains, The Yellow River arrives at Shangdong, a beautiful land with intelligent people.

In the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the east part of Shandong was the Qi State and the west part the Lu State. This is why Shandong is called "the land of Qi and Lu."

Qufu is the hometown of Confucious and the neighbouring Zhou County is the hometown of Mencius. The two are the best places to understand the traditional Chinese culture.

Not far away from the hometowns of Confucious and Mencius is the Tai Mountain, which is regarded as the most respected mountain among the five main mountains in China because the Tai Mountain is located in the east where the sun rises.

Jinan, the capical ofShandong Prov ince, is an ancient city and called "the City of Springs" as there are many springs in the city.

Many places in Shandong are worth visiting, such as the capital city of the Qi State, the hometown of Pusongling in Zibo, Weifang - the capital of kites, Qingdao, Yantai - a world-famous city for grape wine, Weihai City and the Yimeng Mountain Area.

The Yellow River travelled for 5,464 kilomettes, and its indomitable spirit has always been impelling the Chi nese people to keep forging ahead. The mighty torrent of the Yellow River joins in the blue sea at the point between Kenli County and Lijin County of Shandong. The Yellow River takes the Chinese civilization to the world.

|Best Tourist Attractions|

This website is developed and managed by www.ChinaPlanner.com, a China travel service provider and a China tour operator.
566 7th Ave, Suite 506, New York, NY 10018, U.S.A. Copyright 1995 - 2004 All Rights Reserved.
For More Information, Please Contact us at: Phones: (212) 382-3725 / Fax: (212) 382-3701 or by e-mail