Hoang-ho ('Yellow River'), or simply Ho, one of the principal rivers of China, rises in the plain of Odontala, south of the Kuen-Lun Mountains, and winds more than 3000 miles. From the southernmost corner of the province of Chih-li, which it crosses, the Yellow River flowed eastward to the ocean, 650 miles distant, in 34° lat. ; but in 1851-53 this wayward and turbulent stream, which is said to have shifted its course nine times in 2500 years, turned off north-eastward near Kaifung-foo. Since then it discharges its waters into the Gulf of Pechili, 320 miles NNW. of its former mouth, the mountainous province of Shan-tung lying between the two. The river is little used for navigation. In some parts of its eastern course the river-bed is above the great plain through which it passes. The embankments are a source of never-ending expense to the government, and their yielding to floods a frequent cause of desolation to extensive districts. In 1887, by a dreadful inundation in Ho-nan, 'China's sorrow' destroyed millions of lives. The measures subsequently taken to regulate its course proved futile. About 170 miles of the upper course of the Hoang-ho were explored for the first time by Prejevalsky in 1880. The vast quantity of sediment conveyed to the sea by this river, giving it its colour and name, is taken up in that part of its course which lies between the provinces of Shan-hsi and Shen-hsi; beyond which its waters are remarkably clear.