The Daliao River is a major river system in eastern Liaoning province of Northeast China, and formerly the main distributary of the lower Liao River until 1958. The Daliao River proper is formed from the confluence of three rivers at the border between Anshan's Haicheng city and Panjin's Panshan County, after where it runs a length of covering a catchment area of, before coursing meandrously southwest and draining into the Liaodong Bay just west of Yingkou. The principal river of southern Northeast China, the Liao River, historically bifurcates into two distributaries near the Liujianfang Hydrological Station at Xinkaihe Town of Anshan's Tai'an County, forming the Liao River Delta. The eastern distributary, called the Wailiao River, was originally the larger one and the main body of lower Liao River. It travelled southwards to pick up two large tributaries the Hun River and Taizi River, at a confluence locally referred as the "Trident River". After the three rivers merged, the resultant large river then adopted the new name as Daliao River. However, the low elevation and the flat, waterway-rich topography of the Liao River Delta region created a huge problem in flood control. During monsoon seasons the storm surges from the Bohai Sea could go as far inland as the Trident confluence, and when meeting the voluminous upstream water from the Liao River, would frequently exceed the capacity of river channels causing massive spill-over flash floods. This flood risk particularly threatened the cities of Yingkou and Haicheng. In 1958, a river engineering project was conducted, and the upriver of the Wailiao River at the Liao River bifurcation was blocked off, redirecting the Liao River flow entirely towards the Shuangtaizi River, the originally smaller western distributary of the river delta. This separated the Wailiao, Hun and Taizi Rivers from Liao River permanently, making the Daliao River an independent river system since 1958.
Tributaries
Wailiao River, was originally the main distributary of Liao River and the principal headwaters of Daliao River, but now only an often dry stream channel remains upriver after the 1958 project. It however does pick up numerous small canals and old tributaries downstream, and winds southwards before draining merely west of the confluence of Hun River and Taizi River. This 1.5 km confluence segment of the three rivers is locally known as the Trident River.
Hun River, historically also known as Little Liao River or Shen River, was formally the second largest tributary of Liao River. Running and draining a basin of, the Hun River has numerous tributaries of its own, 31 of which has catchment area greater than. It flows through the most populous area of Liaoning province, including the provincial capital and largest cityShenyang, as well as the 10th largest city Fushun. The river got its current name from the fast flow speed and high sediment load, which leads to its muddy appearance.
