The Yellow River is and has been one of the most dangerous rivers in the world. Immense quantities of fine silt are carried down its banks every year, and this causes the gradual rising of the riverbed until the bed rises sufficiently to allow the river to break out of its course and carve a new one, causing untold devastation and creating immense chaos and misery. Attempts to control the river have never been permanent; much of the time, flood control was limited to dike-work or flood-diversion, though these treated the symptoms rather than the problem. Even the modern-day dams have their own potential issues (such as the accumulation of silt within the dams themselves). Is there any way in pre-modern times for a more long-term and/or more effective method of flood-control? What are the effects of this?