The water shortage problem in the Haihe River Basin is the most severe in China, and has restricted its economic development. Over-extraction of groundwater has been very severe in the past 30 years. To solve this problem, scientific decisions should be made from a historical perspective. It is important to describe water cycle evolution in the Haihe River basin over the past 10000 years. Datasets of paleoclimate, paleogeography, palynoflora, historical record, isotopic abundance ratio and content were collected for research on different time scales. Some interesting conclusions were drawn by a comprehensive analysis method. First, radiation was the intrinsic force driving the evolution of water cycle. Generally, precipitation increased with temperature. Second, precipitation was high during 8 ka-5 ka B.P., the so-called Yangshao warm period of the Middle Holocene, which recharged the major part of the Quaternary groundwater. Third, heavy floods during this period transported sediment to the seaside, forming the Coastal Plain where cities such as Tianjin, Huanghua, Cangzhou are now located. In the last 3000 years, intermittent moderate floods did not have enough energy to transport sediment to the sea. Rivers usually overflowed in the piedmont region of the Taihang Mountains, and sediment deposited there formed the Piedmont Plain, where locate Shijiazhuang, Xingtai, Handan, Baoding and other cities. Precipitation had a high correlation with temperature in Haihe River Basin in the past 10000 years: the high temperature usually coupled with high precipitation. Today precipitation in the Haihe River Basin is relatively low, owing to low temperature. This study reveals the relationship between temperature, precipitation and river networks in the past 10000 years in Haihe River Basin, which has great scientific and practical importance in understanding the current water circulation and water shortage.
