The Neolithic revolution represents the transition from nomadic hunters and gatherers to settled societies, which practiced agriculture and farming.
This revolution enabled the development of the first civilizations; people started settling and building villages, but they needed a reliable source of water (year round) in order to maintain their crops, and feed the animals they also started to domesticate; most of these civilizations were stablished near rivers or lakes because of that.
The Yellow (or Yangtze) River provided that much needed water for the earliest chinese civilizations.