Liao River

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Liao River Liao He
The Liao River at Panjin, Liaoning
Map of the Liao River drainage basin
Native name	辽河
Location
Country	China
Province	Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Jilin, Liaoning
Physical characteristics
Source	various sources of its tributaries
Mouth	Liaodong Bay
Length	1,345 km (836 mi)
Basin size	232,000 km2 (90,000 sq mi)

The Liao River (simplified Chinese: 辽河; traditional Chinese: 遼河; pinyin: Liáo Hé) is the principal river in southern Northeast China, and one of the seven main river systems in China. Its name is derived from the Liao region, a historical name for southern Manchuria, from which the Liaoning province, Liaodong Peninsula, and Liao dynasty also derive their names.^[1] The river is also popularly known as the "mother river" in Northeast China.^[2] Coursing 1,345 kilometres (836 mi) long, the Liao River system drains a catchment basin of over 232,000 square kilometres (90,000 sq mi), but its mean discharge is quite small at only about 500 cubic metres per second (18,000 cu ft/s), about one-twentieth that of the Pearl River. The Liao River has an exceedingly high sediment load because many parts of it flow through powdery loess.

The Liao River is also an important geographical landmark, as it divides the modern Liaoning province into two broad regions — Liaodong ("east of Liao") and Liaoxi ("west of Liao"). Historically, this demarcation though was not based on the river itself, but on a large wetland that once existed on the right (west) bank of the lower Liao River known as the Liao Mire (辽泽), which stretched east of the Yiwulü Mountain to the Liao River from Xinmin to Panshan.