文／刁艷杰

黃河是中華民族的母親河，也是世界上泥沙含量最高的河流。在黃河口，當黃河攜帶大量泥沙注入渤海，藍黃相匯、泥沙沉積，共和國最年輕的濕地由此而衍，黃河入海的壯美景觀也愈來愈成為齊魯大地的名片。

發(fā)源于青藏高原的黃河，全長5464千米，是中國第二、世界第五大長河。在東明縣入山東境后，在境內流程617千米，自西南向東北斜穿，流經菏澤、濟寧、泰安、聊城、濟南、德州、濱州、淄博、東營等9個地市，最終注入渤海。

山東黃河沿岸的人們從黃河提取河水，用于灌溉和生活，形成了厚重粗獷的黃河文化。唐朝詩人李白留下了關于黃河的知名詩句：“君不見，黃河之水天上來，奔流到海不復回”“黃河落天走東海，萬里寫入胸懷間。”站在高山之巔，望黃河滾滾，奔向東海，掀起萬丈狂瀾，一路激情跌宕綿延萬里，伴隨著呼嘯的大漠長風，帶著中華五千年的輝煌歷史，邁著浩浩蕩蕩的步伐向齊魯大地奔騰而來，形成河海交匯的壯麗景象。

河海交匯景觀恰如一條黃藍相間的飄帶，把渾濁的河水與碧藍的海水劈為兩半，河黃海藍，格外分明。登高俯瞰，黃色的河水猶如一條巨型黃龍奔入蔚藍的大海，涇渭分明，堪稱天下奇觀。若是漲大潮時，則又是一番景象。海潮溯源而上，洶涌澎湃；河水傾瀉而下，咆哮奔騰，二龍爭斗，攪作一團，聲如雷鳴，堪稱古今奇觀。河海交匯美景雖然每天都在黃河入海口上演，但是由于黃河水量等客觀因素制約，每年能從黃河乘船出海觀賞河海交匯的時機并不多。

靜靜感悟流逝的歲月，黃河與峻拔雄渾的泰山無語相望，一望，就是億萬年。遙想兩千多年前的孔子定是站在此地，看著那奔流不息的河水，禁不住心潮澎湃，發(fā)出“逝者如斯夫”的感嘆。黃河乘著記憶奔騰而過，亙古不變的是這片沃土上流淌著的文明與繁華，和那“一山一水一圣人”的壯美詩篇。

編輯／王雪芃

○墾利黃河公園。圖／何延海The Yellow River Park in Kenli.

○引黃灌溉工程。圖／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.

○濟南黃河大橋。圖／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”.