Fen River

Yellow River Basin.
The Fen is to the right, joining the south-flowing part of the Yellow River just north of its eastward turn.

The Fen River (Chinese: 汾河; pinyin: Fén Hé) drains the center of Shanxi Province, China. It rises in the Guancen Mountains of Ningwu County in northeast Shanxi, flows southeast into the basin of Taiyuan, and then south through the central valley of Shanxi before turning west to join the Yellow River west of Hejin. The Fen and the Wei Rivers are the two largest tributaries of the Yellow River. The river is 694 km long and drains an area of 39,417 km², 25.3% of the area of Shanxi Province.

History

Ancient

The lower Fen was part of the core area of ancient China and held the capital of the state of Jin near Houma. The river nurtured the 2500-year-old Sanjin Civilization and has since been called the "Mother River of People" in Shanxi.^{[citation needed]}

Some Chinese historians have connected the Fen with the ancient Ji River mentioned by Sima Qian and others, who credit it with the origin of the Yellow Emperor and his development of Chinese civilization.

Modern

Modern cities on or near the Fen from north to south are: Taiyuan, Linfen, Houma, Hejin.

As with any river that flows through a city, the Fen River added extra charm to the city of Taiyuan. The construction of dams upstream, however, reduced the once-abundant flow of the river to a mere trickle, and the river bed went dry.

In 1990s, the municipal government of Taiyuan built artificial and removable structures across the river at different locations to create reservoirs of water for landscaping purposes. The surface area of these reservoirs amounts to 1.3 million square meters and, along with newly created vegetation of 1.3 million square meters on the banks, forms the Fen River Park.