Fen River

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The Fen River (Chinese: 汾河; pinyin: Fén Hé) is a river in Shanxi Province, the People's Republic of China. It rises in the Guancen Mountain in Ningwu County in northeast Shanxi, flows southeast into the basin of Taiyuan, and then through the central valley of Shanxi, it joins the Yellow River in the west of city of Hejin. The river is 694 kilometers long and is one of two important tributaries (the other one being the Wei River) to the Yellow River. The river drains an area of 39,417 square kilometers, which is 25.3% of the area of Shanxi Province. The river nurtured the 2500-year-old Sanjin Civilization, and has since been called the Mother River of people in Shanxi.

As any river that flows through a city, the Fen River added extra charm to the city of Taiyuan. The construction of dams upstream, however, have since reduced the once abundant flow of the river to a mere trickle, and the river bed became literally dry.

In 1990s, the municipal government of Taiyuan built artificial and removable structures across the river at different locations to create reservoirs of water for landscaping purposes. The surface area of these reservoirs amounts to 1.3 million square meters, and along with newly created vegetation of 1.3 million square meters on the banks, forms the Fen River Park.

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