Haihe River is the largest water system in northern China and one of the seven major rivers in China. Haihe River system consists of the main stream of Haihe River and its five tributaries: North Canal, Yongding River, Daqing River, Ziya River and South Canal. The main stream of Haihe River, also known as the ancient river, starts from Tianjin Jingang Bridge and flows into Bohai Bay at Dagukou. With the Weihe River as the source, the total length is 1.050 km, and its main stream is 76 km from the bottom of Jingang Bridge, with narrow and tortuous channels.

In Song Dynasty, the main stream of Haihe River was the lower reaches of the boundary river, and it was renamed Zhigu River and Dagu River in Jin and Yuan Dynasties. The name Haihe River first appeared in the late Ming Dynasty. It was not until the Qing Dynasty that the names such as Zhigu River were gradually replaced by the name Haihe River.

Haihe River Basin borders Bohai Sea in the east, Yellow River in the south, Taihang Mountain in the west and the southern edge of Inner Mongolia Plateau in the north. It covers eight provinces, including Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong, Henan, Liaoning and Inner Mongolia, with a total area of 265,000 square kilometers, accounting for 3.3% of the country's total area, including 54. 1% in mountainous areas, 45.9% in plains and 7% in population.