Studies show that, dividing the past 2,500 years into four periods, the river burst its banks just 29 times over the first two periods, but 230 times during the third, and 1,300 during the last.
一九八○年十一月大陸出版的「經濟研究」期刊中，對黃河歷史加以分析，發現若將西元前六○一年到西元一九三六年的二千五百多年分成四段，前兩段黃河總共不過決口廿九次；第三段決口二三○次；最後六百多年，正是元末以降，決口超過一千三百次。