Along the Yellow River
旅遊行程
The Yellow River (Chinese: 黄河 Huáng Hé) is one of China's great rivers, the cradle of Chinese civilization and a historic transport route. It is not as important a tourist route as the Yangtze further south, but might be of interest to some.
Understand
Chinese civilization first developed along the Yellow River; the Shang Dynasty ruled a region around the river from 1700 BCE. The Zhou Dynasty, 1027-221 BCE, expanded the empire southward into the Yangtze river (Chang Jiang) basin. The provinces of Hebei and Henan take their names from this river. "He" is "river, "bei" and "nan" are "north" and "south" respectively.
Prepare
Much of the area is not geared for foreign tourists. If you do not speak Chinese, you will need a least a phrasebook, preferably a bilingual guide. If possible, learn some Chinese before setting out.
Get in
The nearest major airport is Beijing. See the China article for visa information.
Go
There are trains throughout the area. All the trains to western China (Xinjiang, Qinghai, Gansu) go through Lanzhou, which lies on the banks of the Yellow River. The Beijing-Lanzhou "north route" follows the Yellow River for half of its way. The train from Beijing to Tibet via Qinghai passes through several of the cities along the river. There are also boats along some parts of the river. However, for flexibility if you want to follow the Yellow River, you would need to travel largely by road. Rich travelers might rent a car and driver, see Driving in China. Others would use buses, varied perhaps with train or boat for some sections.
Go next
From the inland end of this route, you could turn west onto the Silk Road (Lanzhou is on the main route), turn southeast to reach Xi'an, or go a little west to Golmud which is a jumping off point for Tibet. At the coast end, Beijing is nearby to the north. Going south, Shanghai via Suzhou would be the obvious route but there are many other choices.
本指南改寫自 Wikivoyage （CC BY-SA）