18 kilometers to the northern suburb of the Zhengzhou City, at the south bank of the Yellow River, Huayuankou (the Garden Ferry), a widely known ferry of the Qing Dynasty, lies 12 km to Mountain Mangshan in the west, getting its name out of a former garden here.
    The river-course here has a history of 300 years, with a distance of 9-12 km between banks. The river beach on the left with villages and plantation is 2-3 meters higher than the land outside the bank, while that on the right 6-7 meters higher than the land outside the bank, forming a distinct aboveground river. The mainstream changes its direction frequently here and so does the river course.
    The Huayuankou Hydrologic Station established in July, 1938, is a key control of the lower reach of the river, controlling 97% of the drainage area of the Yellow River and nearly all its sands and water input. The continuous observation of more than 40 years since the establishment of the Huayuankou Hydrologic Station, only broken exceptionally by wars and chaos, provided reliable data for the strategy making and the standard formulating of the flood controlling, the training of the river-course and the water conservancy of the lower reaches of the Yellow River.