The Yellow River, originating from the Yueguzonglie basin on the northern part of the Bayankela Mountain in Tibet highlands at an altitude of 4500 meters above sea level is flowing through nine provinces, with a total length of 5464 kilometers and finally empties itself into the Bohai Sea. It is the second largest river in China after Yangtze River.
The Yellow River flows across Lanzhou, a city that has a 2,000-year history and is capital of Gansu Province. With a population of 2.83 million people, it is one of the largest cities in the northeast, and this concentration has done little to improve the pollution that thickens the air and that flows downriver. Lanzhou was also in the past called the "Gold City", due to the precious metal that was found here. It was this discovery, along with the fact that the city was a significant fortress (for around 1,400 years) of the Hexi Corridor, an eastern and crucial stretch of the Silk Road that led to a long period of great prosperity in the city. Major attractions of Lanzhou are such as Green Corridor along Binhe Road, Five Spring Mountain, White Pagoda Mountain, Sun Yat-sen Bridge, Waterwheel Garden, Sculptures of the Mother River, Lanshan Mountain, Qiaomen Mosque, Sand-gravel land form at Tianfusha Palace.