Yongding
Yongding is a mapped river in the YearMaps hydrographic index. River courses organise settlement, agriculture and frontier-making more durably than any political boundary, and this reach is indexed against the dams, lakes and cities within its catchment.
- Feature Class
- River
- Coordinates
- 39.79°, 116.23°
About Yongding
The Yongding River (Chinese: 永定河; pinyin: Yǒngdìng Hé; Wade–Giles: Yungting Ho) is a river in northern China. It is one of the main tributaries in the Hai River system and is the largest river to flow through Beijing. In recent years, the Beijing segment of the river has dried up due to environmental issues. The Beijing municipal government has invested 16 billion yuan in an effort to replace the riverbed with parkland or smaller bodies of water.
Encyclopedic summary adapted from Wikipedia: Yongding River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Yongding in Depth
Geography
The Yongding River is 650 kilometers (400 mi) in length and drains an area of 47,016 square kilometers (18,153 sq mi). It emerges from the Guancen Mountains (管涔山) in Ningwu County, Shanxi Province, where it is known as the Sanggan River (桑干河) and flows northeast into Inner Mongolia and then heads southeast into Hebei Province.
In Huailai County, it fills the Guanting Reservoir, the biggest reservoir serving Beijing, and takes on the name Yongding. It enters Beijing Municipality through the Xishan Mountains west of the city in Mentougou District and descends into the flatlands of Fengtai and Daxing Districts.
History
Historically, the river was notorious for its flash floods and course changes. The river has taken at least three major courses through Beijing. According to the earliest historical records, the river originally flowed northeast from Babaoshan toward what is now the Purple Bamboo Park in Haidian District and into Wenyu River.
In the Western Han dynasty, the river flowed south from Deshengmen through what is now downtown Beijing, including Qianmen and Hongqiao and Longtan Lake, before leaving to the southeast. At that time, the city was southwest of today's city center. In the Liao dynasty, the river moved southwest to its present course, and the Lugou Bridge was built over it in 1189.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Yongding River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Yongding: Key Facts
| Length | 747 km |
|---|---|
| Drainage basin | 48,500 km² |
| Mouth | Hai River |
| Tributaries | Sanggan He, Yang He, Bai River |
Facts from Wikidata Q1151727 (CC0).
Major River Dossiers
Hand-written studies of the great river systems of history.
Connected Reaches
Nearby watercourses in the same drainage network.
Water Bodies in the Catchment
Settlements Along the Reach
Hydraulic Infrastructure Nearby
Surrounding Terrain
Yongding: Quick Answers
- Where is Yongding?
- Yongding is located in China, at 39.7879° N, 116.2307° E.
- Are there dams on the Yongding?
- No dam on the Yongding is recorded in the YearMaps dam index, which covers major structures only.