The Yellow River or Huang He ( ; sometimes simply called 河 Hé ("The River") in ancient Chinese, Khatan Gol or Shar Mörön blank">geonames.de: Huang He ) is the second-longest river in China (after the _Yangtze River) and the sixth-longest in the world at 5,464 kilometers (3,398 mi). Originating in the Bayan Har Mountains in Qinghai Province in western China, it flows through nine provinces of China and empties into the Bohai Sea. The Yellow River basin has an east-west extent of 1900 km (1,180 mi) and a north-south extent of 1100 km (684 mi). Total basin area is 752,443 km² (290,520 mi²).

The Yellow River is called "the cradle of Chinese civilization", as its basin is the birthplace of the northern Chinese civilizations and is the most prosperous region in early Chinese history. But frequent devastating flooding, largely due to the elevated river bed in its lower course, has also earned it the unenviable name "China's Sorrow".