Sitting in the west of Northeast China, the Xiliao River is the upperstream of the Liao River. Historically, the Xiliao River basin gave birth to vibrant and creative cultures such as the Hongshan culture and the Xiajiadian culture, serving as an important birthplace of the ancient northern Chinese culture. In the late 20th century, the Chinese archaeologists discovered a civilization born thousands of years ago in the Xiliao River basin, revealing the origin and early evolution of the Chinese nation’s 5,000-year-old civilization. The Xiliao River has therefore become one of the 3 sources of Chinese civilization, along with the Yellow River and the Yangtze River.

However, due to less rainfall and the disorderly economic, social and agricultural expansion in recent decades, the Xiliao River has experienced serious ecological problems including perennial dry-up of the main stem, shrinking of lakes and wetlands, among others. Consequently, it became the only major river in China that is in a state of interruption among the 7 major rivers. This situation has attracted high attention from the Chinese government.

In recent years, Ministry of Water Resources has regarded promoting the protection and management of the Xiliao River and reviving its ecological health as a concrete practice to implement President Xi’s water governance principles of “prioritizing water conservation, balancing spatial distribution, taking systematic approaches and promoting government-market synergy”. Since 2020, the unified scheduling of water resources in the Xiliao River has been rolled out. Up to September 2024, the water flow of the main stem of the Xiliao River has arrived at the Tongliao city section.

The Tongliao section of the Xiliao River is now seeing water

The successful ecological water replenishment of the Xiliao River has brought opportunities for ecological improvement as well as economic prosperity and development. In the furthcoming future, China will focus on the ecological recovery of the Xiliao River by means of scientifically planning water network engineering system, improving water allocation capacity and integrating local water and transferred water use, so as to recover the vitality of Xiliao River as soon as possible.

(Source: INTCE)