Yellow River Delta

The Yellow River Delta is a fan of new land spreading east into the sea in northern Shandong, centred on Kenli County and running from the Tao'er estuary in the north to the Zimao estuary in the south, all of it below 15 metres in elevation and about 5,450 square kilometres in area. It is described as the youngest land in China: the average coastline advances about 390 metres a year and new ground of more than 30 square kilometres is added every year. Inside it stands a national nature reserve of 153,000 hectares, begun as a municipal reserve in December 1990, made provincial in November 1991 and approved as a national reserve in October 1992. It holds the world's most important breeding ground for Oriental white storks.