Mother River: a 5000 kilometre journey through China from the sea to the headwaters of the Yellow River - by Michael Woodhead

At the age of 62, Yorkshire-born Michael Woodhead took early retirement from his job in Sydney to make a journey through China that no outsiders have done before. Taking an electric bike from the Yellow River’s outlet on the Shandong coast, he spent three months following the course of the river up to the headwaters on the Tibetan plateau, some 5000 kilometres away.  

On the way he travelled through the cradle of Chinese civilisation on the North China Plain, across the grasslands of inner Mongolia, through the deserts of Muslim Ningxia and up through the loess landforms of Gansu into the highlands of Qinghai. He visited places frequented by Confucius and Lao Tzu and the ruined cities of lost civilisations such as the Tanguts, wiped out by Genghis Khan. 

Travelling slowly off the beaten track he was able to see the changing face of 21st century China, from the world’s largest solar power park in Qinghai to the craft beer bars set up by young entrepreneurs in the towns of rural Henan.

Reaching the headwaters of the Yellow River at almost 4000 metres altitude amid the swampy grasslands of the Tibetan plateau, he retraces part of the Long March route where modern Chinese engineers are building a high speed rail line and Tibetan nomads are switching from yak herding to glamping sites. 

Fluent in Chinese, Michael was able to meet and chat to many local people and hear their stories about life along the Yellow River in 2025.

Contents

Introduction

PART ONE.  North China Plain, Cradle of Civilisation

1.    Qingdao ist sehr schön                     

2.    Navy day at Weihaiwei              

3.    Delta departure: oil pumps and birdlife            

4.    Hotsprings and Jinan pancakes                

5.    Shandong scholars and sacred mountains            

6.    Kaifeng and the river opposing rhinoceros            

7.    Hanfu and broken spokes in Luoyang            

8.    The road that inspired the Tao Te Ching             

PART TWO. Looping Into Inner Mongolia

9.    Interlude in Xi’an: old capital, new bike            

10.    The missing bridge to Dragon’s Gate                

11.    Into the canyon and the Hukou falls                

12.    An old soldier on the road to Old Ox Bay            

13.    Pedalling the Hetao plain to Baotou             

14.    Punctures on the desert road                 

15.    Into Ningxia and a lost civilisation                

16.    Entering Gansu: loess is more                 

PART THREE. Up To The Headwaters On The Qinghai Plateau

17.    Visa run from Lanzhou                     

18.    Meeting the Mongolian Muslim knifemakers of Jishishan    

19.    Marmots on the closed road through Kanbula        

20.    Solar farms and fake salmon at Longyangxia         

21.    Gonghe cops send me to Qinghai Lake            

22.    Seeking a Plan B in Xining                     

23.    Craft beer in Little Mecca                     

24.    Reaching the First Bend in the rainy season            

25.    Epilogue: To Chengdu across the Long March grasslands