In 1887, the Yellow River burst through dikes in Henan and flooded a vast area of Qing China. The disaster killed hundreds of thousands or more and displaced many communities. It exposed the danger of farming, settlement, silt, and state hydraulic works along one of the world's most unpredictable rivers.

Chinese poets had long called the Yellow River both cradle and calamity, and the flood renewed that double image. Late Qing and modern writers could use the river as a symbol of civilisation under pressure, where water management, peasant suffering, and dynastic weakness met.