"Why is the Yellow River yellow?"
Translation:为什么黄河是黄色的？
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1253
Why was 黄河为什么是黄色的 marked wrong please? Is it wrong, poor but acceptable phrasing, or also correct?
- 1703
To add to what Gabrielle wrote, earth (the loess that gives the river its color and one of the Five classical elements) is associated with yellow, one of the Five classical colors (the others are water - black, metal -white, fire -red, and wood - 青 that ranges from blue to green) Each is also associated with a season (earth is change), cardinal direction (earth is center) etc etc. All part of 五行，sometimes called the doctrine of the five.
It's a yellowish brown. It's from the large amount of loess dirt being carried in the water as silt.
As far as i read in the book 'When China Rules the World' the Chinese do not consider themselves yellow but white.
- 1096
I don't know if it's accepted, but 黄河为什么黄？ should be. Please report it if it's not.
- 1131
Are Chinese people characterized as the yellow "race" because of this river rather than their skin color (which isn't actually yellow)?
