In order to have a deep understanding of the spiritual core and cultural gene of excellent traditional Chinese culture, and have a deeper understanding of the formation logic and internal principles of “new cultural life forms”, this paper studies the spatial distribution of cultures in the upper, middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River Basin by means of literature review, field investigation and interdisciplinary analysis, and sorts out and summarizes the cultural characteristics and types of different regions. The results show that the Yellow River culture presents different distribution types in different spaces of the upper, middle and lower reaches. The Yellow River culture is characterized by originality and root, inheritance and development, openness and inclusiveness, nationality and independence, transcendence and universality, etc. The culture of the Yellow River Basin has rich cultural connotation, and the Yellow River culture formed and continuously passed on is the representative and model of Chinese excellent traditional culture.