There are many meandering rivers in the source region of the Yellow River. From the upstream to the downstream, four meandering river groups can be identified, including Maduo-Dari grassland, Zoige basin, Gannan grassland and Huangnan grassland. Combined with remote sensing imagery and field investigation, the spatial distribution, planform characteristics and boundary conditions of the meandering rivers were studied. The results show that the meander belts of the tributaries of the meandering river groups in the Yellow River source greater than 1 000 m in width all belong to the Zoige river group. The widest meander belt is the Black River(3 300 m), followed by the White River(2 500 m), where oxbow lakes are well developed. The Maduo-Dari meandering river group has the largest mean channel slope(0. 022)while the Zoige river group has the smallest mean slope(0. 009). The average sinuosity is largest for the Zoige river group(1. 67)and is smallest for the Maduo-Dari river group(1. 19). The mean channel slope of the meandering river groups is roughly negatively correlated with the average sinuosity. Boundary condition of the meandering river groups is composed of two-layer composite materials due to riparian vegetation. The upper layer is soil-root complex and the lower layer is non-cohesive silt-sand or gravel-sand layer.