In
China, the Yellow Earth usually refers to the
Loess Plateau (also known as the Huangtu Plateau), located in the country's northern part, on the upper and middle reaches of
Yellow River (which in fact took its name even at the Yellow Earth), extending northeast to southwest for more than 1,000km, and having several hundred kilometers wide. More specifically, the Loess Plateau and its dusty soil cover almost all of
Shanxi and
Shaanxi provinces, as well as parts of
Gansu province, the
Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, and the
Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, being a transition zone to the steppes and desert regions of Inner Mongolia.
Loess is a silty sediment, highly prone to erosion, deposited on the plateau by wind storms, favoured of lack of vegetation. Because loess soils are high in nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus, and because they retain water effectively, they are productive despite the region’s seasonally dry climate. The plateau is also acknowledged as the birthplace of Chinese nationality. The tomb of
Emperor Huang (the Yellow Emperor), said to be the ancestor of the Chinese people, still locates on the northern Shaanxi province.
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