The Huangshui River, Huang Shui, or Tsong Chu is a river in Qinghai and Gansu, China. It is a left tributary of the Yellow River and its total length is with a basin area of .
Etymology
The Huangshui River () is also referred to simply as Huang Shui () in China. The river was formerly romanized as the
Hwong-Choui. In
Amdo Tibetan, the Huangshui River is known as the
Tsong Chu (
Tibetan script:
ཙོང་ཆུ་).
History
The Huangshui River Valley, also known as Tsongkha (
Tibetan script: ཙོང་ཁ་), has long been important as a route between Chinese, Tibetan, and Mongolian cultures. As one of the few fertile valleys on the northeast edge of the
Tibetan Plateau, the river's basin has supported agriculture for various
Neolithic and
Bronze Age civilizations including the
Majiayao culture,
Qijia culture,
Xindian culture, and
Kayue culture. Huangshui River Valley was also one of the routes utilized by travelers on the Northern Silk Road. The city of
Xining formed on the Huangshui River due to its strategic importance.
Geography
The Huangshui River, in name, is a short river that rises in
Qinghai's
Daban Mountains in Haiyan County, Haibei. The river flows east through
Xining and
Haidong before joining with the
Yellow River just upstream from
Lanzhou. The Huangshui's primary tributary, the
Datong River, is actually longer in length than the Huangshui and thus forms the
main stem. The Datong and Huangshui meet on the Qinghai-Gansu border between Minhe and
Honggu.
