Indicators of the Healthy Yellow River

River's life is a process of hydrologic cycle which is carried out under certain direction and path, and represented by continuous flow in the river channel. Continuous water circulation is the key to keep the life of a river. The concept of river health is the description of river life status, and the river health conditions reflect human judgments on contributions of rivers to human society, or whether the river could function well to meet the requirement of people. The standard of river health is the balance or compromise of human benefit and other biological benefit in corresponding times and river reaches. By analyzing the requirements of mankind and river ecosystem, the healthy Yellow River symbols have been developed which are continuous flow, favorable riverbed, favorable water quality, acceptable river ecosystem and certain water supply capacity. Eight parameters, such as minimum flow, maximum flood discharging capacity, bank-full discharge, floodplain transversal slop, water quality degree, wetlands area, aquatic organisms and water supply are the vivid descriptions of healthy YR situation, and their ideal standards have been proved.