During Xianfeng period of Qing Dynasty, the Yellow River diverted to Shandong to enter the sea. Will it be diverted to Jiangsu in the future?

The Yellow River, known as the River in ancient times, is also known as the four blasphemies with the rivers, Huaihe River and Ji River, and the Yellow River is the ancestor of the four blasphemies. The Yellow River originates in the Bayan Kara Mountains of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, flows through nine provinces (autonomous regions) such as Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan and Shandong, and flows into the Bohai Sea in Dongying City, Shandong Province, with a total length of 5,464 kilometers.

The Yellow River is the mother river of the Chinese nation, which has nurtured thousands of Chinese descendants in Qian Qian and made immortal contributions to the prosperity of Chinese civilization. The Yellow River is not always as gentle as its mother. Once it becomes violent, the turbid waves are terrible, which makes people shudder. Historically, the Yellow River is famous for its frequent breaches and diversions.

Figure-the source of the Yellow River

According to statistics, for thousands of years, the Yellow River burst 1593 times, with 26 major diversions, of which 6 were major diversions, which had a great impact on the social structure at that time and later. The first five major diversions took a long time, and the earliest record can be traced back to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, that is, the fifth year of King Ding Zhou (602 BC). The last diversion of the Yellow River occurred in the fifth year of Xianfeng in Qing Dynasty, namely 1855.

Today, let's find out why the Yellow River has been diverted recently, and will it be diverted in the future? Before this diversion, the Yellow River flowed out from the junction of Shandong, Anhui and Jiangsu provinces, seized the Huaihe River channel and entered the Yellow Sea in Jiangsu Province. In the summer of the fifth year of Xianfeng, a large-scale heavy rain fell in the Yellow River basin, which led to a short-term surge in the water level of the Yellow River. The tile room in Yanglan County (now Lankao County, Kaifeng City) burst northward, captured the Daqing River, and then entered the Bohai Sea from Lijin County, Shandong Province.

1855 the diversion of the yellow river has caused serious consequences and suffered heavy losses in many places in Shandong. After the flood receded, the land desertification was serious, so many farmers went bankrupt and were forced to embark on a difficult road to cross the border. In addition to the most important factor of large-scale sudden rainstorm, there are many reasons for the great diversion of the Yellow River.

First of all, the lower reaches of the Yellow River are prone to siltation.

Most rivers in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River are bound by hard mountains, and the water is fast and the sediment is not easy to deposit. On the other hand, the lower Yellow River is a flat plain area. The river flows slowly here, and the huge amount of sediment it carries is easy to deposit, silting up the river course and constantly raising the river bed. Only by constantly heightening the embankment can the river be bound. Relatively speaking, such a river bank is extremely unstable, and it is easy to burst once the water volume is too large.

Figure-Overlooking the Yellow River estuary

Second, the Yellow River management work is not in place.

During the Qing dynasty, the Yellow River was not paid enough attention to, and the manpower, financial resources and material resources were not in place, which made the Yellow River full of hidden dangers and frequent breaches. According to statistics, the Yellow River burst its banks every six months in the Qing Dynasty. In this way, it will fall into a vicious circle and keep filling holes, which will only make the firmness of the river embankment worse and worse. In the event of a catastrophic flood, we can only resign ourselves to fate.

Figure-Sister Lake overlooking the source of the Yellow River

Third, social unrest, the rulers have no energy to manage the Yellow River.

In the middle and late Qing Dynasty, ruling corruption and social contradictions intensified. No sooner had Emperor Xianfeng ascended the throne than the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement broke out. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was vigorous, and the Taiping Army was invincible, attacking the Qing army in the north and even approaching the capital (Beijing) for a time. Emperor Xianfeng was overwhelmed by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and his throne may not be secure. He has no mood and energy to manage the Yellow River, which costs a lot of money.

It was this great diversion of the Yellow River during the Xianfeng period that ended the 100-year history of the Yellow River entering the sea from Huai to Shandong, but now the Yellow River does not enter the sea from Lijin County-Hekou District of Dongying City, and the estuary has moved to Kenli District of Dongying City in the south.

Now everyone must have a question. Will the Yellow River be diverted from Jiangsu to the sea again in the future? Although the Yellow River has been treated by continuously improving the ecological environment of the Loess Plateau, the main "sand-producing area" of the Yellow River water, building reservoirs to stop sand, and strengthening river banks, the sediment concentration of the Yellow River water has been greatly reduced. However, it is an indisputable fact that the riverbed is getting higher and higher. Many places have become suspended rivers on the ground (such as Kaifeng), and the riverbanks can't be high all the time. Therefore, many people think that there is always the risk of the Yellow River breaking its banks or diverting its course. As for the Yellow River, if it really has to be diverted one day, will it still enter the sea from Jiangsu? No one knows this, except that the water flows downwards.