Yishui Water Conservancy Scenic Area

Yishui Water Conservancy Scenic Area

Yishui Water Conservancy Scenic Area is a national water conservancy scenic area.

This is a seven-character regulated poem written by the Ming Dynasty poet Wu Wenxian during his visit to the Yishui River. The Yishui River, also known as the Yishui, originates from Mount Lu, flows through counties and districts such as Yiyuan, Yishui, Yinan, Hedong, Lanshan, Luozhuang, Cangshan, and Tancheng, and enters Jiangsu Province at Wujia Dukou Village in Tancheng County. It has a total length of 574 kilometers and a drainage area of 17,325 square kilometers. Its major tributaries include the Fenhe River, Menghe River, Liuching River, Benghe River, and Jianhe River. The annual runoff is 3.51 billion cubic meters, and the widest point of the riverbed reaches 1,540 meters.

The Yishui River is the mother river of Linyi. It runs through the southern plains of Linyi from the Yimeng Mountain area, meandering gracefully around mountains and hills as it flows southward. The banks are covered with lush grass and green trees, presenting picturesque scenery of clear waters, verdant hills, reflections of the sky and clouds, and fragrant rice fields and orchards. In old China, the river had deep and rapid currents, allowing sailboats to reach Nanma in Yiyuan, but it also frequently brought disasters to the people. A folk rhyme goes, "When the Jiangfengkou opens, the waters flood Lanshan; when Linqiao drowns, Nanyizhou gets swept along." After the founding of New China, the Party and government placed great emphasis on managing the Yishui River. More than ten large and medium-sized reservoirs were built along its upper reaches, including Basha, Andi, Tangcun, and Xujiaya. Downstream, embankments were reinforced, flood diversion sluices were constructed, and while water disasters were largely brought under control, benefits such as fish farming, power generation, and irrigation were also achieved. In 1997, the world’s longest rubber dam, the Xiaobudong Dam, was built east of Linyi City, creating a water surface of 12,000 mu (about 800 hectares) that enhanced the charm of the Yishui River.