river of north-central china. It rises in the Taiyue Mountains of Shanxi (Shansi) province, China and flows south through the plateau past Qinyuan and near Yangcheng, through the southwest spur of the Taihang Mountains, and onto the plain of northern Henan province. There it swings southeastward to join the Huang He (Yellow River) at Wuzhi. The river's total length is about 300 miles (485 km).

The Qin River's lower course has a very low gradient, so that the large volume of silt carried down from the plateau by the current has caused extensive flooding since ancient times. In 609, after the Yongji Canal was built from the area of Wuzhi northeast across the North China Plain to the area of present-day Beijing, the waters of the Qin were diverted into the canal. The canal, however, fell into disuse at the end of the 8th century. In 1951–52 the People's Victory (Renmin Shengli) Canal was constructed, connecting Wuzhi with the Wei Rive (Wei River)r, thus reopening the waterway of 609 and providing an outlet for floodwaters at the junction of the Qin and the Huang He.