Before heavy industrialization started in the 1970s, Liupanshui – located in the western part of the Guizhou Province – was a typical city of water crossed by the wide meanders of the Shuicheng River,
subjected to floods and stormwater inundation during the monsoon season. With the development of the coal, steel and cement industries and rapid urban growth,
the river, rectified and channelized into
concrete embankments, lost much of
its charm and ecological and hydraulic
function. Strongly polluted by urban and
farmland runoffs, the park was created
on formerly deteriorated wetland patches,
abandoned fish ponds and strips of mismanaged corn fields.