28,000 Rivers Disappeared in China: What Happened?

In short:

1) How do you define a river? If the definition changes, then how many rivers you have can change

2) Climate change… less rain/snow = less water to fill rivers, so some will simply go away (or be defined down to creeks or streams or some such)

3) Rather importantly… China’s rampant industrial growth is drinking down whole rivers and turning them into crappy consumer products, smog and steam.