A resident smiles while witnessing water coming into the canal headwork in Xichuan county, Nanyang, Central China’s Henan province, on Dec 13, 2014. [Photo by Li Fuhua/Asianewsphoto]

Residents in Nanyang, Central China’s Henan province, visited the canal headwork in Xichuan county to see water transferred from the Yangtze River through the South-to-North Water Diversion Project on Dec 13.

China's South-to-North Water Diversion Project is designed to pump water from the Yangtze River, through eastern, middle and western routes to the parched north area, including the capital city Beijing.

The first-stage of the middle route started releasing water from the Danjiangkou Reservoir on the Yangtze River to the northern provinces of Henan and Hebei and Beijing on Dec 12.