This is the Yellow River. Each year the Yellow River carries billions of ons of sediment from the Loess Plateau eastwards to the crop fields of the Chinese heartland. Historically, the Chinese relationship with the river has been uneasy.Sediment，building up on the riverbed, has caused the Yellow River to burstits banks per iodically，unleashing devastating floods， resulting in millions of deaths. . But when tamed with dykes and channels， the river' s bounty is 1egendary.Even today， half of China' s wheat comes from the Yellow River floodp1ain. For thousands of years， the sediment- rich Yellow River has underpinned the prosperity of the Chinese heart land. But increased demand for water by people and industry now threaten to run the river dry. . And the source of its fertility，the Plateau, is also under threat. Loosened by cultivation， its soft soil is blowing away. The North China Plain is choked with dust storms that even loom over Beijing，so much so that the Chinese government has made improving the city' sair quality a priority in the run up to the Beijing 0lympics. Heartland China' s life-support system is in trouble. Yet in a few places it' s still possible to find landscapes that appear to have remained untouched. The Yellow River， the second longest river in China， is one of the most famous long rivers in the world. The Yellow River flows through nine prove incs, meandering in northern China. Seen from the sky， it is much like Chinese character “ji” (meaning a few)，and it is also a bit like the .unique totem of Chinese nation dragon. Since the middle part of the river flows through the Loess Plateauin China, a lot of sediment is carried away.Therefore, it is also considered as the river with the most sediment in the world. In Chinese history, the Yellow River has significant influence on human civilization and it's one of the most important birthplaces of the Chinese nation，so Chinese people call it the' "Mother River' . The Yellow River isd finally pour's itself into the Bohai Sea. Because it carries a lot of silt, the water of the River is in yellow. In Chinese history， the Yellow River basin influences Chinese civilization significantly and is also the major birthplace of Chinese nation.Therefore，the Yellow River is called "the Cradle of Chinese Civilization" and"Mother River” of China. 本文来源：https://www.wddqw.com/doc/ae2099d288d63186bceb19e8b8f67c1cfad6eeac.html