The Yellow River in Northern China has long been seen as the country's central bloodstream, and the base for one of the world's earliest China's mother river. Its futile river basin cradled the first Chinese civilizations. In the year 2000, a thirty year old scholar named Xiao Xianhua has embarked on a quest torediscover the Yellow River's ancient roots of Chinese civilization, and has so far spend six years exploring its banks and nearby regions. In over six years time, he'd traveled much part of the Yellow River and its neighboring regions on foot three times, retracing the development of Chinese nation and studying the ancient customs on route.

Xiao Xianhua came into our studio a man with very few extra words is a man of few unnecessary words. His sun-tanned face now tanned from years of exploration, his black eyes show his firm will. It was this firm will which took him on a root-finding tour in the year 2000, he talks about his six years of exploration, following his shortly after his graduation from Guangxi Normal University at the turn of the century.

"The route I chose took me decided is to walk alongside the Yellow River and its visit the nearby villages, towns and cities along the way. On my way, I visited various the sites of historical interest, learning the local customs and folk culture, and also called upon local scholars on local gents and scholars of knowledge. During this tour, I found that the  Yellow River region, especially in the middle reaches of it, is a historical and cultural treasure house, which has accumulated after wealth over thousands of years of accumulation. Indeed, whichever village you stumble into, you can't find some very knowledgeable local, gents who will tell you a lot of things that can't never be learned in from books."

The Yellow River is approximately 5500km in length. It is the second largest river in China. The river originates in the mountains of Qinghai Plateau and finally flowing exits into the Bo Hai Sea east of Beijing. The Hukou Waterfall west of Jixian County in the Northern Shanxi Province, is one of the most spectacular, sheerest sections of the Yellow river. The section of the river here is like the mouth of a water-flask, hence the name "Flask Mouth waterfall". It was here that Xiao Xianhua began his first trek,  started his first discovery tour about the Yellow River.

It was also this part of the Yellow River which Xiao Xianhua arrived on the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year of 2000, that gave him the strongest impression.

"I arrived at Hukou Waterfall in March 2000. This waterfall is grandiose and magnificent. It carriesflows the spirit of the Yellow River, of the Chinese people's perseverance and uncaving unyielding spirit. In the past, there used to a great deal of business centered around the Hukou Waterfall area. Indeed, in ancient China, there weren't many convenient modes of transportation in the region, so water became an extremely important means of travel. The merchants on the upper reaches of the Yellow River would send their goods by ship. However, when a ship reached the Hukou Waterfall, the steep drop forced them to temporarily quit their water travel. They would push their ship and wares on to the bank and then struggle over miles of sand, until they finally passed the waterfall and could return to the river. So at that time, the waterfall was an area of bustling business and even today you can find abandoned cave dwellings there."