Hai River

Hai River Hai He
Hai River in Tianjin
Hai River basin
Native name	海河 (Chinese)
Location
Country	China
State	Tianjin, Hebei, Beijing, Henan, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Shandong
Physical characteristics
Source	Taihang Mountains、Yan Mountains
Mouth	Bohai Sea
Length	1,329 km (826 mi)
Basin size	318,200 km2 (122,900 sq mi)
Discharge
• average	717 m3/s (25,300 cu ft/s)

The Hai River (海河, lit. "Sea River"), also known as the Peiho, Pei Ho ("White River"), or Hai Ho, is a Chinese river connecting Beijing to Tianjin and the Bohai Sea.

During the Song dynasty, the main stream of the Hai River was called the lower section of the Jie River. In the Jin and Yuan dynasties, it was renamed as Zhígǔ River (直沽河, lit. “Straight Gu River") and Dàgǚ River (大沽河, lit. “Great Gu River") respectively. The name Hai River first appeared towards the end of the Ming dynasty.^[1]

The Hai River at Tianjin is formed by the confluence of five watercourses: the Southern Canal, Ziya River, Daqing River, Yongding River, and the Northern Canal. The southern and northern canals are parts of the Grand Canal. The Southern Canal is joined by the Wei River at Linqing. The Northern Canal joins with the Bai He (or Chaobai River) at Tongzhou. The Northern Canal (sharing a channel with Bai He) is also the only waterway from the sea to Beijing. Therefore, early Westerners also called the Hai He the Bai He.

At Tianjin, through the Grand Canal, the Hai connects with the Yellow and Yangtze rivers. The construction of the Grand Canal greatly altered the rivers of the Hai He basin. Previously, the Wei, Ziya Yongding and Bai Rivers flowed separately to the sea. The Grand Canal cut through the lower reaches of these rivers and fused them into one outlet to the sea, in the form of the current Hai He.

The Hai River is 1,329 kilometers (826 mi) long measured from the longest tributary. However, the Hai River is only around 70 kilometers (43 mi) from Tianjin to its estuary. Its basin has an area of approximately 319,000 km² (123,000 sq mi).