The Si River is a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

Shandong Province Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizatio ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. It also ran through the area of modern

Jiangsu Province Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its ca ...

until floods in 1194.

Course

The Si rises in the southern foothills of the Mengshan Mountains (蒙山), then flows through

Sishui County Sishui County () is a county of southwestern Shandong province, People's Republic of China. It is the easternmost county-level division of Jining City. It takes its name from the Si River The Si River is a river in Shandong Province, China. It ...

and the cities of

Qufu Qufu ( ; ) is a city in southwestern Shandong province, East China. It is located about south of the provincial capital Jinan and northeast of the prefectural seat at Jining. Qufu has an area of 815 square kilometers, and a total population of ...

and

Yanzhou Yanzhou ( postal: Yenchow; ) is a district in the prefecture-level city of Jining, in the southwest of Shandong province, People's Republic of China. It was also the name of one of the Nine Provinces in ancient China, where Yu combated floods by ...

before emptying into Lake Nanyang (南阳湖).

History

In antiquity, the river was a major tributary of the

Huai River The Huai River (), Postal Map Romanization, formerly romanization of Chinese, romanized as the Hwai, is a major river in China. It is located about midway between the Yellow River and Yangtze, the two longest rivers and largest drainage basins ...

in central China. Tributaries such as the Fan (反), Sui (睢), Tong (潼) and Yi (沂) swelled its banks as it passed through present-day Yutai,

Pei PEI or Pei may refer to: Places *Matecaña International Airport, Pereira, Colombia, IATA code PEI *Pei County (沛县), Jiangsu, China *Pei Commandery (沛郡), a commandery in Chinese history *Prince Edward Island, a province of Canada * Pei, ...

Xuzhou Xuzhou (徐州), also known as Pengcheng (彭城) in ancient times, is a major city in northwestern Jiangsu province, China. The city, with a recorded population of 9,083,790 at the 2020 census (3,135,660 of which lived in the built-up area ma ...

Suqian Suqian (, IPA: ) is a prefecture-level city in northern Jiangsu Province, China. It borders Xuzhou to the northwest, Lianyungang to the northeast, Huai'an to the south, and the province of Anhui to the west. History Suqian was said to be the si ...

, and Siyang counties in Shandong and Jiangsu. Its confluence with the Huai occurred at Sikou (泗口) or Qingkou (清口) at present-day

Huai'an Huai'an (), formerly called Huaiyin () until 2001, is a prefecture-level city in the central part of Jiangsu province in Eastern China. Huai'an is situated almost directly south of Lianyungang, southeast of Suqian, northwest of Yancheng, almos ...

in Jiangsu. From a very early date, the Huai was connected with the

Yellow River The Yellow River or Huang He (Chinese: , Standard Beijing Mandarin, Mandarin: ''Huáng hé'' ) is the second-longest river in China, after the Yangtze River, and the List of rivers by length, sixth-longest river system in the world at th ...

through the Honggou Canal ( t s ''Hónggōu'', "Canal of the Wild Geese").. In 486BC,

King Fuchai Fuchai (reigned 495–473BC), sometimes also written Fucha, was the last king of the state of Wu during the Spring and Autumn Period of Chinese history. His armies constructed important canals linking the Yellow, Ji, and Huai River systems of ...

of Wu built the Hangou Canal ( t s ''Hángōu''), connecting the Huai and Honggou to the

Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest list of rivers of Asia, river in Asia, the list of rivers by length, third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in th ...

to their south.. Amid his ongoing wars against Qi and Jin, in 483 and 482BC, he further expanded this network with the

Heshui Canal Heshui County () is a CPRC, county of Gansu province, China. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Qingyang, and is the easternmost county-level division of the province. Its postal code is 745400, and its population in 199 ...

( t s ''Héshuǐ Yùnhé''), connecting the Si with the

Ji River The Ji River was a former river in north-eastern China which gave its name to the towns of Jiyuan and Jinan. It disappeared during one of the massive Yellow River floods of 1852, as the Yellow River shifted its course from below the Shandong Peni ...

, which ran parallel to the Yellow River through densely peopled districts in what is now western Shandong. In 1194, at the time of the Song and Jin Dynasties, the

altered its course southwards,René Grousset ''The rise and splendor of the Chinese Empire'', University of California Press, 1959, 3rd printing, page 303 (map) engulfing the lower reaches of the Si River below Xuzhou City and those of the Huai River below Huai'an. As a result, the Si River no longer exists in Jiangsu Province. During the

1851–1855 Yellow River floods The 1851-1855 Yellow River floods resulted in a change of the Yellow River's course, thereafter emptying into the Bohai Sea rather than into the Yellow Sea.Fei, J., Lai, ZP., He, HM. et al. Limnology (2012) 13: 117. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10201- ...

, the Yellow River once more altered its course northwards, assuming the course of the former

and again passing north of the Shandong Peninsula in 1852. However, due to the large amount of

silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension with water. Silt usually has a floury feel when ...

carried by the river, it left behind a high layer of mud in the lower reaches of the Si River’s former course.

Legacy

The philosopher

Confucius Confucius ( ; zh, s=, p=Kǒng Fūzǐ, "Master Kǒng"; or commonly zh, s=, p=Kǒngzǐ, labels=no; – ) was a Chinese philosopher and politician of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. C ...

is buried on the north bank of the Si River where it passes through Qufu City. The river was also traditionally regarded as a place where the Nine Cauldrons were lost.

References

Citations

Bibliography