Once it leaves the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the Yellow River flows through mountains, making many twists and turns, falls and continues its course until reaches Taohuayu (Peach Blossom Valley)in Zhengzhou where it suddenly changes from opening up channels and valleys into creating new land; Taohuayu thus becomes the top of the world's largest delta--the North China Plain. Most of the Yellow River gorges occur along Taohuayu.

The upper reaches of the Yellow River to Hekou Township in Togtoh County, Inner

Mongolia. and the lower part of its middle lower reaches between Yumenkou and Taohuayu have many famous gorges, including the Longyang, Jishi, Liujia, Hongshan, Qingtong, and Sanmen gorges; but these are separated by many broad valleys and basins. The section between Hekou in Inner Mongolia and Yumenkou in Shanxi Province... the 725-kilometer long Shanxi-Shaanxi Gorge is the longest continuous gorge on the mainstream of the Yellow River.

The Yellow River Funs in a west-east direction in the Hetao area. but it makes a sharp turn here and dashes southward through the ordos Plateau. Flanked by the LiJliang Mountains to the left and northern Shaanxi on the right. the Yellow River stays deep in the Loess Plateau. The valley is over 100 meters deep on average and the valley bottom declines from 1,000 meters above sea level to below 400 meters. The riverbed at its narrowest points. such as the Hukou terfall. is just 30-50 meters across.

Since silt is carried along down from the Loess Plateau. sand in the Shanxi-Shaanxi Gorge section accounts for 56 per cent of all sand carried by the Yellow River, even though its drainage area represents only 15 per cent of the entire Yellow River drainage area. Perhaps we should say that the real "Yellow" River is created here. Where archetypal Yellow River gorge scenes--swift currents, roaring yellow waters, deep valleys-coalesce. The Longmen Gorge above Yumenkou is the most magnificent. With this the Shanxi-Shaanxi Gorge reaches its final climax.