Yalu River

Yalu River, river of northeastern Asia that forms the northwestern boundary between North Korea and the Northeast region (Manchuria) of China. The Chinese provinces of Jilin and Liaoning are bordered by the river. Its length is estimated to be about 500 miles (800 km), and it drains an area of some 12,260 square miles (31,750 square km). From a mountainous source in the Changbai Mountains, the river flows southwestward to drain into Korea Bay (an embayment of the Yellow Sea). The river is an important source of hydroelectric power, is used for transportation (especially of lumber from the rich forests on its banks), and provides fish for the riverine populations.

In addition to serving as a political boundary, the Yalu River constitutes a dividing line between Chinese and Korean cultures. It is generally known abroad by its Chinese name, Yalu, instead of by its Korean name, Amnok. According to ancient writing, the Chinese name, which is derived from the characters ya (“duck”) and lu (“greenish blue”), is a comparison of the blueness of the river’s waters to the greenish blue of a particular species of domestic duck that inhabits it. The Yalu did not become a political boundary until the Korean-Chinese border was established toward the end of the Korean Koryŏ dynasty in the 14th century. The river played an important political role in the Korean War (1950–53).

The Yalu rises in Tian Lake (known in Korean as Ch’ŏn Lake), a body of water of indeterminate depth on top of Mount Baitou (Mount Paektu), on the Chinese–North Korean border, at an elevation of about 9,000 feet (2,700 meters) above sea level. Winding southward as far as Hyesan, North Korea, and then meandering northwestward for some 80 miles (130 km), the river reaches Linjiang, Jilin province, China, from which it flows southwestward for 200 miles (320 km) before emptying into Korea Bay.

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Except for small areas of basaltic lava along the easternmost part of the river’s course, the Yalu flows over Precambrian rock (more than 540 million years old) before its distributaries begin to spread out to form its delta. Throughout much of its course it flows through deep, gorgelike valleys, with mountains ranging in height from 1,900 to 3,800 feet (600 to 1,200 meters) above sea level rising on either bank. The principal tributaries are the Herchun, Changjin, and Tokro rivers from North Korea and the Hun River from China.

The upper part of the Yalu as far as Linjiang has rapid currents, many waterfalls, and sunken rocks. The middle part, which extends as far as Ch’osan, North Korea, contains considerable deposits of alluvium that make the riverbed so shallow in places that it prevents even timber rafts from passing downstream during the dry season. The lower part of the river’s course has a very slow current in which deposits of alluvium are even greater and form a vast delta containing many islands. The silting of the river has increased so much since the mid-20th century that, whereas in 1910 ships of 1,000 tons could easily sail upstream to the port of Sinŭiju, in what is now North Korea, today 500-ton ships can hardly manage to do so.

The climate along the river’s course is typically continental and characterized by cold winters and warm summers. The river is frozen and thus closed to navigation during the four winter months (November through February). Because it is situated in mountain ranges and is not far from oceans, the river’s basin receives fairly heavy precipitation, much of which occurs as rainfall during June, July, August, and September. The abundant rainfall waters rich forests of conifers as well as deciduous trees. The forests provide a sanctuary for wildlife, including wild boars, wolves, tigers, jaguars, bears, foxes, and such birds as ptarmigans and pheasants. The river abounds in carp and eels.

It is notable that fish in two of the tributaries of the Yalu—the Herchun and Changjin—are like those in the upper stream of the Amur River in China and not like those in the Yalu. It is supposed that these tributaries once were connected with the Sungari (Songhua) River, a tributary to the Amur, only to be separated from it and connected with the Yalu when an eruption of Mount Baitou produced a flow of basaltic lava during the Quaternary Period (within the past 2.6 million years).

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Ever since a tribe called the Yojin was driven into Manchuria in the 16th century, the Korean side of the river has been inhabited only by Koreans. The northwestern (Chinese) bank is inhabited by Manchu and Han Chinese. The arable land along the river amounts to no more than 220,000 acres (89,000 hectares). Rice is the main crop grown along the river’s lower course; corn (maize), millet, soybeans, barley, and sweet potatoes are raised farther upstream, in the mountainous middle and upper reaches of the river.

The river measures about 460 feet (140 meters) in width and 3 feet (1 meter) in depth at Hyesan and is 640 to 800 feet (200 to 250 meters) wide and 4.5 feet (1.4 meters) deep at Chunggang. It reaches 1,280 feet (390 meters) in width at Sindojang, the location of an immense reservoir of the Sup’ung (Shuifeng) Dam hydroelectric station. In its estuary the river is 3 miles (5 km) wide and 8 feet (2.5 meters) deep.

The river is primarily important as a source for hydroelectricity. The largest dam on the river is located at Sup’ung, North Korea, 35 miles (56 km) upstream from Sinŭiju. The height of the dam is 320 feet (100 meters) and its length is 2,880 feet (880 meters); the surface area of the reservoir is 133 square miles (345 square km). Its potential generating capacity amounts to about 7 million kilowatts, and it supplies electricity for a large area of the northern part of North Korea as well as adjacent areas of Jilin and Liaoning. Its importance to China, especially at the time of the establishment of the People’s Republic, was one of the main reasons that China entered the Korean War in 1950, when United Nations troops were advancing northward toward the Yalu.