汾河，也称汾水，山西人称为“母亲河”，是黄河的仅次于渭河的第二大支流。汾河源于中国山西省**宁武县管涔山，经太原市南流到新绛县折向西，由运城市的河津市汇入黄河。全长709.9公里（441.1英里），流域面积39,826平方公里（15,377平方英里）。

汾河流域覆盖山西中部，上游穿行山地、黄土丘陵中，中游经太原盆地，**以下变窄，过灵石峡进入临汾盆地，下游河谷开阔。四周为山脉环绕。由河源至太原市上兰村为上游，穿行山地，水土流失严重，是洪水、泥沙的主要来源。上兰村至洪洞县石滩村为中游，河出山谷，经太原市入晋中平原，有潇河、文峪河两大支流注入。坡降变缓，泥沙淤积严重。这段河床旧时很不稳定，往往泛滥成灾，但也是流域内最富庶地区。 汾河冲击许多谷地，一些重要城市处于汾河谷地中，如太原、临汾、灵石等。这条河本来是条大河，水量充盈，肥鱼行舟。后来由于1958年汾河水库的建造和1980年代之后激增的工业、农业需求而逐渐水量稀少。

The Fen River (Chinese:汾河; pinyin:Fén Hé) drains the center of Shanxi Province, China. It rises in the Guancen Mountains of Ningwu County in northeast Shanxi, flows southeast into the basin of Taiyuan, and then south through the central valley of Shanxi before turning west to join the Yellow River west of Hejin. The Fen and the Wei Rivers are the two largest tributaries of the Yellow River. The river is 694 km long and drains an area of 39,417 km, 25.3% of the area of Shanxi Province. The Fen River is the longest river in Shanxi province, northern China. It is also the second longest tributary of the Yellow River. The Fen River in Taiyuan city is throughout from north to south, the length of Fen River in Taiyuan City is 100 kilometer, occupies one seventh of the entire Fen River.