Tao River () is a right tributary of China's

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 ...

. It starts in

Xiqing Mountains Xiqing District () is a district in Tianjin, People's Republic of China. History The current Xiqing area came into existence in the mid and late Tang dynasty. In Northern Song (Song dynasty) period, this area was the border of Song and Liao (Liao ...

() near the

Gansu Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibet ...

–

Qinghai Qinghai (; alternately romanized as Tsinghai, Ch'inghai), also known as Kokonor, is a landlocked province in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It is the fourth largest province of China by area and has the third smallest po ...

border, flows eastward across

Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture Gānnán Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (; ) is an autonomous prefecture in southern Gansu Province, China, bordering Linxia to the north, Dingxi to the northeast, Longnan to the east and Aba (Sichuan province) to the south . It includes Xiahe a ...

, and then northward more or less along the border between

Dingxi Dingxi (), also known as Longyou () is a prefecture-level city in the southeast of Gansu province, People's Republic of China. As of the 2020 census, its population was 2,524,097 inhabitants, of which 422,383 lived in the built-up (or metro) area ...

Prefecture-level City in the east and Gannan and Linxia Prefectures in the west. It flows into the

(actually, the

Liujiaxia Reservoir The Liujiaxia Reservoir () is a reservoir in China's Gansu Province, formed by the Liujiaxia Dam on the Yellow River. It occupies over ,"临夏旅游" (Linxia Tourism), published by Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture Tourist Board, 2003. 146 pages. ...

) near Liujiaxia Town (the county seat of

Yongjing County Yongjing (, Xiao'erjing: ) is a county in Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture in China's Gansu Province. The county seat, the town (''zhen'') of Liujiaxia (), is located about 80 km south-west from the provincial capital city, Lanzhou. As is t ...

), just upstream of

Liujiaxia Dam The Liujiaxia Dam () is a major hydroelectric dam on the upper Yellow River, in Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture of China's Gansu Province. The dam and its hydroelectric facility (Liujiaxia Hydroelectric Station, ) are located in Liujia Gorge, or ...

Hydro power

A number of dams with hydroelectric power plants have been constructed on the Tao River. According to Google Maps, they include dams at the following locations (upstream to downstream): * —Gucheng Station, near

Zhongzhai Town Zhongzhai (), may refer to: * Zhongzhai, Gansu, a rural town in Min County, Gansu, China * Zhongzhai, Guizhou, a rural town in Zhijin County, Guizhou, China * Zhongzhai, Hunan, a rural town in Xinhuang Dong Autonomous County, Hunan, China { ...

() in

Min County Min County or Minxian is administratively under the control of the prefecture-level city of Dingxi, in the south of Gansu province, China. In ancient times, it was known as Lintao County due to its location along the Tao River. It was founded a ...

* —Shashuniu Dam () * —the Lianlu Cascade I, near Xiacheng Township () * * * The Lianlu Cascade I station, with the generation capacity of 55 MW, has been jointly developed by Japan and China. Construction of the station's three 22MW units began in 2007 and was completed in 2010, the year the units began producing electricity.

References

Rivers of Gansu Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture Tributaries of the Yellow River {{China-river-stub