Where did the Chinese civilization begin? As far as we know, it began in the Huang He River valley. In English, Huang He means “yellow river.”
This river carries a lot of soft, sandy yellow soil, so you can probably guess why it got that name. The soil makes the areas around the river good for farming. But for people, the river can be good and bad. When it floods, the people who live near it often die. That’s why it has been called China’s Sorrow. One legend, or story handed down from earlier times, tells of a time when it flooded a lot. The flooding was so bad that water even covered the nearby hills. No one could find food. King Shun ruled several villages. He told a government official named Yu to find a solution. The legend says that Yu got all the villages together. He asked them to dig ditches to drain the water to the sea. It took 13 years, but his plan worked. King Shun was very grateful. He even passed his throne on to Yu. Yu the Great has long been known as a legendary ruler of ancient China. Many Chinese people still say, “If it were not for Yu, we would all be fishes.”
