黄河精魂东入海

文／刁艳杰

黄河是中华民族的母亲河，也是世界上泥沙含量最高的河流。在黄河口，当黄河携带大量泥沙注入渤海，蓝黄相汇、泥沙沉积，共和国最年轻的湿地由此而衍，黄河入海的壮美景观也愈来愈成为齐鲁大地的名片。

发源于青藏高原的黄河，全长5464千米，是中国第二、世界第五大长河。在东明县入山东境后，在境内流程617千米，自西南向东北斜穿，流经菏泽、济宁、泰安、聊城、济南、德州、滨州、淄博、东营等9个地市，最终注入渤海。

山东黄河沿岸的人们从黄河提取河水，用于灌溉和生活，形成了厚重粗犷的黄河文化。唐朝诗人李白留下了关于黄河的知名诗句：“君不见，黄河之水天上来，奔流到海不复回”“黄河落天走东海，万里写入胸怀间。”站在高山之巅，望黄河滚滚，奔向东海，掀起万丈狂澜，一路激情跌宕绵延万里，伴随着呼啸的大漠长风，带着中华五千年的辉煌历史，迈着浩浩荡荡的步伐向齐鲁大地奔腾而来，形成河海交汇的壮丽景象。

河海交汇景观恰如一条黄蓝相间的飘带，把浑浊的河水与碧蓝的海水劈为两半，河黄海蓝，格外分明。登高俯瞰，黄色的河水犹如一条巨型黄龙奔入蔚蓝的大海，泾渭分明，堪称天下奇观。若是涨大潮时，则又是一番景象。海潮溯源而上，汹涌澎湃；河水倾泻而下，咆哮奔腾，二龙争斗，搅作一团，声如雷鸣，堪称古今奇观。河海交汇美景虽然每天都在黄河入海口上演，但是由于黄河水量等客观因素制约，每年能从黄河乘船出海观赏河海交汇的时机并不多。

静静感悟流逝的岁月，黄河与峻拔雄浑的泰山无语相望，一望，就是亿万年。遥想两千多年前的孔子定是站在此地，看着那奔流不息的河水，禁不住心潮澎湃，发出“逝者如斯夫”的感叹。黄河乘着记忆奔腾而过，亘古不变的是这片沃土上流淌着的文明与繁华，和那“一山一水一圣人”的壮美诗篇。

编辑／王雪芃

○垦利黄河公园。图／何延海The Yellow River Park in Kenli.

○引黄灌溉工程。图／何延海The Yellow River water diversion irrigation project.

As the mother river of the Chinese nation, the Yellow River is a river with the highest sediment content. At the Yellow River estuary, the yellow riverwater and blue seawater converge and sediment is deposited when the Yellow River with its large amounts of sediment pours into the Bohai Sea. Hence, the youngest wetland of China came into existence and the Yellow River pouring into the sea is increasingly becoming a business card of Shandong.

Having its source in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the Yellow River flows through Shandong from Heze to Dongying where it pours into the Bohai Sea. With a length of 5 464 meters, it is the second longest river in China and the fifth longest river in the world. Its flow path within the territory of Shandong is: following a southwest-northeast course, it flows 617 kilometers in Shandong from Dongming county through Heze, Jining, Taian, Liaocheng,Jinan, Dezhou, Binzhou, Zibo, and Dongying.

○济南黄河大桥。图／何延海The bridge over the Yellow River in Jinan City.

People living along the Yellow River take water from it for irrigation and daily life, thus forming the profound and straightforward Yellow River Culture. Li Bai, a famous poet in the Tang Dynasty, describes the Yellow River in his poem as “See how the Yellow River pour out of heaven and fl ow into the sea, never to return”and “Like the Yellow River that falls high from the sky, the mind of a person should be broad enough to contain the long river”. Standing on the top of mountains and seeing the surging Yellow River fl owing eastward all the way with roaring waves and desert winds into the sea, people are greatly amazed to see the magnif i cent scene of the Yellow River converging with the Bohai Sea. Carrying the five-thousand-year splendid history of Chinese nation, the Yellow River makes its way eastward with great strength and vigor in a formidable way in Shandong.

Looking like a yellow-blue ribbon, the confluence of the Yellow River and Bohai Sea divides into two distinctive parts, the thick river water and the dark blue seawater.Observed from on high, the yellow water of the Yellow River stretches into the blue sea like a large yellow tongue, and the division is clear and distinct, which can be called a great wonder on earth. It takes on another appearance at the time of spring tides. The turbulent sea tides billow upwards while the roaring river pours downwards. Like two dragons fighting, it produces thunderous sounds. Such a scene can be called a great wonder in all times. Although the conf l uence of seawater and riverwater takes place every day at the estuary of the Yellow River, there are fewer opportunities to see such grand scenes by going to the sea on a ship from the Yellow River because of limitation of some objective factors such as the water yield of the Yellow River.

It causes people to meditate silently on the elapse of time. The Yellow River has been flowing, face to face with the towering Taishan Mountain for billions of years. Two thousand years ago, when standing at the estuary of the Yellow River and looking at the ceaseless river,Confucius could not help being choked with emotion and exclaimed“How fast has the time passed like the flowing water”. The Yellow River, together with memory, keeps flowing past at quick speed, while what remains are the civilization and prosperity of this land and the beautiful lines on “Mount Tai, Yellow River and Confucius”.