The Yellow River gave birth to Chinese civilization. As early as the Stone Age, the earliest Neolithic civilization in China was formed. For example, Lantian civilization and Banpo civilization appeared in Weihe River, a tributary of the Yellow River. Longshan civilization appeared in Shandong Peninsula and so on. More than 6000 years ago, agricultural activities began to appear in the basin. About 4000 years ago, some blood tribes were formed in the basin, among which Yan Di and Huangdi were the most powerful tribes. Later, the Yellow Emperor gained the position of leader and merged with other tribes to form the "Huaxia nationality". Chinese people all over the world regard the Yellow River basin as the cradle of the Chinese nation, calling it the "mother river" and "four shames", and calling the yellow land their own "roots".
From the Xia Dynasty in the 2nd/kloc-0th century BC, in the historical period of more than 4,000 years, the dynasties established their capital in the Yellow River basin for more than 3,000 years. Among the "seven ancient capitals" in the history of China, Anyang, Xi, Luoyang and Kaifeng are located in the Yellow River Basin and its adjacent areas. A large number of Oracle Bone Inscriptions remains in Yindu (which belonged to the Yellow River valley at that time), creating a precedent for written records in China. Xi 'an (including Xianyang), from the Western Zhou Dynasty, Qin Dynasty and Han Dynasty to Sui Dynasty and Tang Dynasty, has 13 dynasties as its capital, with a history of thousands of years, and is a famous "Eight Rivers Imperial Capital". After the Eastern Zhou Dynasty established Luoyang as its capital, the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Wei Dynasty, the Sui Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty, Hou Liang and the Hou Zhou all established their capitals in Luoyang, which lasted for more than 900 years and was called "the ancient capital of nine dynasties". For a long time, the political, economic and cultural center of China has been in the Yellow River Basin. The middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River are the earliest areas for the development of science, technology, literature and art in China. Around 2000 BC, bronzes appeared in the basin, and the bronze smelting technology of Shang Dynasty reached a fairly high level, and iron smelting began to appear at the same time, marking the development of productive forces to a new stage. The shovel and iron axe unearthed in Luoyang after a series of treatments show that China developed the softening technology of cast iron more than 2000 years earlier than European countries. China's ancient "four great inventions"-papermaking, movable type printing, compass and gunpowder-all originated in the Yellow River basin. A large number of literary classics, from the Book of Songs to Tang poetry and Song poetry, and a large number of cultural classics are also produced here. After the Northern Song Dynasty, the national economic center of gravity gradually shifted to the south. However, in the process of political, economic and cultural development in China, the Yellow River basin and the plain areas in the lower reaches of the Yellow River are still in an important position.