The Yellow River snakes through northern China for more than 3,000 miles and is known as the country's mother river. Thousands of years ago, Chinese civilization grew up along its banks.

The Yellow River has long reflected the glories and the problems of China's past. Today, China's rapid industrialization is taking its toll on the environment surrounding the country's mother river.

The drought has already had a devastating effect on China’s most important river, which stretches an estimated 6,300 kilometers (3,900 miles) from the Tibetan plateau to the East China Sea near ...

In December, the central government released a document ordering the river chief system, which is linked to performance evaluations of top officials, to be established nationwide by the end of ...