- Yongding River
The Yongding River (zh-stp|s=永定河|t=same|p=yǒngdìng hé)(Wade Giles: Yungting River) is a river in northern
China . It is one of the main tributaries in theHai River system and is best known as the largest river to flow throughBeijing Municipality . The river is 650 km in length and drains an area of 47,016 sq. km. It emerges from theGuancen Mountains ofNingwu County inShanxi Province , where it is known as theCangqian River (桑乾河) and flows northeast intoInner Mongolia and then heads southeast intoHebei Province . InHuailai County , it fills theGuanting Resevoir , the biggest resevoir serving Beijing and takes on the name Yongding. It entersBeijing Municipality through the mountains ofYanqing County , northwest of the city centre and descends into the flatlands inMentougou District . The river eventually flows back intoHebei Province and then intoTianjin Municipality , where it meets theHai River just before the latters empties into theBohai Sea atTanggu .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 thePurple Bamboo Park inHaidian District and intoWenyu River . In theWestern Han Dynasty , the river flowed south fromDeshengmen through the present-day downtown Beijing, includingQianmen andHonqiao andLongtan Lake , before leaving to the southeast. At that time, the city was situated to the southwest of today's city centre. In theLiao Dynasty , the river moved southwest to its present course, and the Lugou Bridge was built over it in 1189. WhenMarco Polo visited the city during theYuan Dynasty , he crossed the Yongding River on the Lugou Bridge, which became known as theMarco Polo Bridge .The river known colloquially as the "Wuding River" or the "River of Instability." In 1698, the
Qing Dynasty government reinforced the river banks and rendered the current course permanent. The river thus became known as the "Yongding River" or the "River of Eternal Stability."
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