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River

Fen River

694 km from source to mouth · China.

ChinaChinaFlows into Yellow River

Follow the riverMonth by month

SourceMouthTaiyuanLinfen
The river and every tributary in its basin, drawn from RiverATLAS (CC BY 4.0).

In numbers

Length

694km

Average flow

67m³/s

Basin

39,417km²

Drop

1,260m

from 1,616 m to 356 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

694 km of river and 4 stops on the way: 3 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

1,616 m356 m
Guancen Mountainsat 1,616 m0 km
Fenhe Shuiku21 km²114 km
Taiyuan5,305,061 people207 km
Xinzhi72,303 people425 km
Linfen959,198 people487 km
Yellow Riverat 356 m694 km
0200400600694 km
  1. 0 kmGuancen Mountainsat 1,616 m
  2. 114 kmFenhe Shuiku21 km²
  3. 207 kmTaiyuan5,305,061 people
  4. 425 kmXinzhi72,303 people
  5. 487 kmLinfen959,198 people
  6. 694 kmYellow Riverat 356 m

Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.

River in Shanxi, China

At the mouth it carries 67 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 38 seconds. It drops from 1,616 m to 356 m, 1.8 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 39,417 km², about the size of CH. 14.1 million people live in it. Highest water: from August to September; lowest: from December to March. It is heavily dammed: reservoirs can hold 52% of a year's flow.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • TaiyuanLargest city on its banks · 5,305,061 people
  • Taiyuan Wusu International Airport (TYN)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 15 km from the city
  • On the water7 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • From April to June and SeptemberThe best months to visit

Fen River, month by month

Highest water: from August to September

Lowest water: from December to March. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): January. Best months to visit: from April to June and September.

24
-5°4 mmJan
20
-1°6 mmFeb
39
5°14 mmMar
49
12°27 mmApr
59
18°37 mmMay
66
23°53 mmJun
140
25°119 mmJul
180
23°104 mmAug
190
18°67 mmSep
130
11°30 mmOct
74
4°13 mmNov
37
-3°5 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 20 m³/s in the lowest month to 190 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.

Plan the trip

Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

The basin

Fen River: the basin in numbers

40,073 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

DammedReservoirs can hold 52% of a year's flow: much of the river is a chain of lakes.
  • 14.1millionpeople live in the basin
  • 352/km²people per km²
  • 1,119maverage altitude of the basin
  • 501mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 8.6°Caverage air temperature
  • 7%protected areas
  • 0.1%covered by lakes
  • 1.1km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 16% Forest
  • 34% Cropland
  • 21% Pasture
  • 15% Towns and cities

RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.

Along the river

Fen River: what you find on the way

  • 17Dams
  • 18Weirs
  • 6Locks
  • 7Marinas

From OpenStreetMap, within 2.2 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Fen River in our other atlases

What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.

  • 1lake on its wayLakeyas
  • 1mountain at the sourcePeakyas

Lakes and reservoirs (1)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Fenhe Shuikukm 10421km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

Mountains at the source (1)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Guancen Mountains11 km away

Open Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Fen River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Fen River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth27 km across

Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.

Photos

Fen River in pictures

汾河 Fen River - panoramio
lienyuan lee · CC BY 3.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q1154778) · CC0
Course, profile, basinRiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed along the river network from the point given by Wikidata
FlowWaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Climate along the riverWorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Towns, bridges, damsWikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0
Along the river© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Our other atlasesLakeyas, Peakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST

Every source and licence is on the data sources page.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit
lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit
mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit
waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit
islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit
riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit