Yongding River

A river in China. A tributary of the Haihe River. The upper reaches split into the Yanghe River and the Sanggan River near the government office of Huailai County, Hebei Province. The former originates near the Great Wall on the southern edge of the Mongolian Plateau and flows east in northwestern Hebei Province, while the latter originates in the Guanshuang Mountains in northern Shanxi Province and flows northeast to join the former at Government Office. The rest of the river is called the Yongding River. It flows southeast through a gorge carved by the Taihang Mountains, passes through the southwestern part of Beijing, and joins the Haihe River in Tianjin. It is 650 kilometers long and has a drainage area of ​​50,000 square kilometers. Because it passes through loess soil, it carries a large amount of alluvial soil, and in the past, its course was unstable after it reached the North China Plain, with many branches. The names Wuding River, Hun River, and Little Yellow River are derived from this. In the Qing Dynasty, dikes were built to stabilize the river, and flood control works were carried out, including the construction of a dam at the Guanding Gorge in 1954. Today, the downstream area is an important agricultural base on the North China Plain.

[Motohide Akiyama]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国の河川。海河の支流。上流は河北(かほく／ホーペイ)省懐来(かいらい)県官庁(かんてい)付近で洋河と桑干(そうかん)河に分かれる。前者はモンゴル高原の南辺、万里の長城付近に源を発し、河北省北西部を東流、後者は山西(さんせい／シャンシー)省北部の管涔(かんしん)山に発し、北東流して官庁で前者に合流し、以下を永定河と称する。太行(たいこう／タイハン)山脈にうがたれた峡谷を経て南東流し、北京(ペキン)市の南西部を貫いて天津(てんしん／ティエンチン)で海河(かいが／ハイホー)に合流する。長さ650キロメートル、流域面積5万平方キロメートル。黄土地帯を経由するため沖積土の運搬量が多く、かつては華北平原に出てからの流路は不安定で、多くの分流があった。無定河、渾河(こんが)、小黄河などの名はそれにちなむ。清(しん)代に安定を図って堤防が築かれ、1954年には官庁峡にダムをつくるなど治水工事が進められて、下流域は今日、華北(かほく／ホワペイ)平原の重要な農業基地となっている。

［秋山元秀］

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