Guanting Reservoir is the first large scale reservoir which was built across Yongding River. It is located about 105 kilometers from Beijing and is belonging to Huailai District of Hebei Province. Yongding River flows through mostly loess soil area and resulted in the sediments level of the river is very high. Thus, Yongding River is named as Xiao Huanghe (Little Yellow River) by the locals. Due to this reason, flooding disaster is very common along the river. In order to solve this problem, the government had decided to build Guanting Reservoir in 1951 and the whole project was completed on May of 1954.
The Guanting Reservoir is built at the entrance of Guanting Canyon. According to the history, this location used to be the work station where a minister who in charged to check water level daily during Ming Dynasty. Besides that, this area was named as Guanting Village and therefore, the reservoir was named similar to the village name as well. The reservoir plays a very important role in preventing the flood along the Yongding River and at the same time ensures the safety of two railway route as well. Moreover, the reservoir is also one of the sources of water supply to Beijing as well as to the farms nearby. Later, landscape surrounding the reservoir was redesigned and transformed it into a scenic area. As a result, other than playing its role as a reservoir, it also serves as one of the most attracting scenic area around Beijing.