Bashan Reservoir carries forward Yimeng spirit in water conservancy development

Yi River once suffered frequent flood disasters before the construction of Bashan Reservoir. Flood surges in rainy seasons destroyed farmlands and villages, forming major bottleneck restricting economic development of Yishui and surrounding regions.

Construction of Bashan Reservoir kicked off in autumn 1958. Faced with material and equipment shortages in early China, over 60,000 local villagers and 3,000 migrant workers from Feixian relied purely on manual labor to complete the project after 162 days of round-the-clock construction. The dam closed in April 1960 and stored water in May, ending thousands of years of Yi River flood risks. During construction, 83 model teams and more than 12,000 advanced individuals emerged, including ten female role models known as "Ten Golden Flowers" who persisted in icy river construction on New Year's Eve. Over the past six decades, the reservoir underwent six expansions and two risk elimination renovations. It now serves as Yishui’s sole urban drinking water source, key regional water storage hub and a provincial-level beautiful river and lake demonstration case in 2026.

Bashan Reservoir's 60-year development journey is a vivid embodiment of Yimeng Spirit featuring hard work and unity. Linyi will further advance ecological protection, intelligent management and industrial integration along river basins, and inherit the people-centered water governance spirit of the reservoir builders.

Editor：韩蒙蒙