China Green | Asia Society » Blog Archive » Less Blessed 神山恩渐少

The Yellow River, also known as “China’s Sorrow,” often doesn’t reach the sea. Once the source of devastating floods that plagued generations of Chinese, the river is now running dry. In response, the Chinese government is replumbing the country to bring water from the wet south to the arid north.

As the Chinese saying goes, “when you drink the water, think about its source.” The signs of water scarcity in the Yellow watershed can be traced all the way to its headwaters in Qinghai, the meltwater of glaciers on the slopes of the sacred spirit mountain Anyemaqen (Ah-nyi MAH-chin).

The warming climate has put enormous extra pressure on this corner of the Tibetan Plateau, threatening to make unsustainable the traditional Tibetan way of life. Continued warming holds grave implications for hundreds of millions of people across the lower altitudes of northern China whose livelihoods depend on the Yellow’s water.

Across western China deserts are growing, ranches are degrading and nomads are searching farther and farther afield for good grass. On Mt. Anyemaqen, glaciers and pastures are showing signs of stress, and the melting flows that have given rise to the world’s largest civilization are in danger. Alarms are sounding not only for the whole Yellow River, but also for the other major river systems in Asia, all of which are born on the Himalayan plateau, and upon which almost a third of humanity depend.

This video is the second in the “Tibetan Plateau in Peril” series. Thanks to Snowland Great Rivers Environmental Protection Association, Galen Rowell (Mountain Light Photography), Matthias Kuhle, Greenpeace China, Orville Schell for generous support and/or archive images and Kevin MacLeod for music.

(Relevant resources: Yellow River Source Expedition 2005 by Greenpeace China)

黄河作为“中国的悲哀”曾给老百姓带来无尽洪灾，但如今它经常断流。中国政府正在实施一项举世瞩目的浩大工程“南水北调”，意在从湿润的华南调水到干旱的华北。

熟话说，“饮水思源”。黄河流域缺水的问题可以在其源头，青海阿尼玛卿山脚下日益减少的冰川融水中找到征兆。

气候变暖尤其给青藏高原的这个东北角带来额外压力，并可能令藏族牧民的传统生活方式无以维系。持续的变暖也预示着黄河下游依赖黄河水的数亿人民将面临的严重后果。

在黄河源区，沙漠在扩张，草场在退化，这里牧民必须更频繁地搬迁寻找牧草。在阿尼玛卿区域，冰川和草场在缩小和退化，孕育了世界最大文明国度的冰川融水岌岌可危。这不仅敲响了黄河流域的警钟，而且也是亚洲所有大江大河的危险信号，因为全人类的仅三分之一人口依靠这些发源于青藏高原的江河。

这个短片是“青藏高原危机”系列的第二部。特别感谢青海三江源生态保护协会，Galen Rowell (Mountain Light Photography), Matthias Kuhle, 绿色和平中国, Orville Schell提供的支持／宝贵图片，Kevin MacLeod的音乐。