Yellow River Old Course Wetland 黄河故道湿地

About Yellow River Old Course Wetland

When the Yellow River breached its banks at Lankao in 1855 and swung north, it left a 52.4-kilometre stretch of abandoned channel across Minquan, and the wetland grew in it. The protected area runs 23.5 kilometres from west to east and one to two kilometres across, taking in Kunpeng Lake, Qiushui Lake and Longze Lake in sequence along with adjoining reservoir and pond wetlands. Of its 2,303.5 hectares, 2,266.5 are wetland, a wetland proportion of 98.1 per cent, and the water supplies Shangqiu and Minquan. Approved as a pilot in December 2013, it became a national wetland park in 2019 and was listed as a Wetland of International Importance in 2020, the only such site in Henan.

The reason for that listing is largely one duck. Baer's pochard numbers around 1,500 birds worldwide, and counts here have exceeded 400, making this one of the few important habitats and breeding grounds for the species. Surveys record 175 bird species in 18 orders and 52 families, among them six first-class nationally protected birds including the oriental stork, black stork, white-naped crane and Dalmatian pelican, plus 28 second-class species, alongside 197 plants and 36 fish. The wetland sits on the East Asian-Australasian flyway and waterbird counts have reached 82,000. Restoration has returned more than 20,000 mu of fish ponds to wetland and built 35 bird islands.

What to look for

• Kunpeng, Qiushui and Longze lakes, the three linked water bodies strung west to east along the old river channel
• Baer's pochard, the critically rare duck for which the wetland is chiefly protected
• The constructed bird islands, thirty-five of them, built as undisturbed nesting ground
• Whooper and tundra swans, listed among the twenty-eight second-class protected bird species recorded here
• The shape of the abandoned Yellow River channel itself, 52.4 kilometres of it across the county

Location & getting there

Getting to Yellow River Old Course Wetland

Check the open visitor route and follow the site’s rules on distance, food and photography. Conservation areas may limit access beyond designated paths.

• Search for 黄河故道湿地 with 商丘市 and 民权县.