YELLOW SEA

Wade-Giles romanization and Pinyin Huang Hai, Korean Hwanghae marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean lying between mainland China to the north and west and the Korean peninsula to the east. On the south the Yellow Sea is separated from the East China Sea by an east-west line connecting Cheju Island, off South Korea, with the mainland of China. The sea's major inlets are Korea Bay in the north and the Po Hai (Gulf of Chihli) in the northwest. The Strait of Chihli, between the Liaotung Peninsula to the north and the Shantung Peninsula to the south, links the Yellow Sea proper with the Po Hai. The area of the Yellow Sea (excluding the Po Hai) is 161,000 square miles (417,000 square km), its mean depth is 131 feet (40 m), and its maximum depth is 338 feet (103 m). It derives its name from the colour of the silt-laden water discharged by the Huang Ho (Yellow River) and other major Chinese rivers including the Yangtze, Huai, Liao, and Yalu. Generally, the climatic conditions of the region are characterized by very cold, dry winters and warm, wet summers. The Yellow Sea is famous for its fishing grounds. Chinese, North and South Korean, and Japanese trawlers exploit rich demersal (bottom-dwelling) fish resources. The leading port cities are Tsingtao, Shanghai, Tientsin, L-ta, and Ch'in-huang-tao in China, Inch'on in South Korea, and Namp'o in North Korea. The East China, South China, and Yellow seas. Chinese Huang Hai, Korean Hwanghae, large inlet of the western Pacific Ocean lying between the Chinese mainland on the west and north and the Korean Peninsula on the east. It is situated to the north of the East China Sea, which it bounds on a line running from the mouth of the Yangtze River to Cheju Island off South Korea. It measures about 600 miles (960 kilometres) from north to south and about 435 miles from east to west. In the northwest part of the sea, northwest of a line between the Liaotung Peninsula to the north and the Shantung Peninsula to the south, is the Po Hai (Gulf of Chihli). The area of the Yellow Sea proper (excluding the Po Hai) is about 161,000 square miles (417,000 square kilometres), its mean depth is 131 feet (40 metres), and its maximum depth is 338 feet (103 metres). Additional reading Much of the information on the Yellow Sea is published in Chinese. Useful English-language works include Y.A. Park, O.H. Pilkey, and S.W. Kim (eds.), Proceedings of KoreaU.S. Seminar and Workshop of Marine Geology and Physical Processes of the Yellow Sea (1984); and Mark J. Valencia (ed.), International Conference on the Yellow Sea (1987). Mark J. Valencia