The Reconnaissance, Planning, Design & Research Institute(hereinafter referred to as the institute), founded in 1956, is headquartered in Zhengzhou with several branches and offices in Xining of Qinghai Province, Luoyang, Xiaolangdi, Kaifeng, Zhongmo of Henan Province, Xi??an and Hancheng of Shanxi Province, Shenzhen of Guangdong Province. Of the 1,800 staff members currently working in the Institute, more than 1,100 are technical professionals, these include 384 senior engineers, of whom 31 are awarded with special allowance issued by the State, and 75 have professor title, In addition, about 550 staff members have obtained certificates as registered architectural, structural and project cost engineers, accountants, estimators and supervising engineers. In 1992, the Institute was rated as one of the best 100 reconnaissance and design engineering organizations in the country by both the Ministry of Construction and the State Statistics Bureau (It ranked the top 12th among the best 100 reconnaissance and design engineering organizations in the country in the late published lists and the top 2nd among the best reconnaissance and design engineering organizations for water conservancy and hydroelectric projects). It was licensed by the Ministry of Foreign Economy and Trade to cooperate with foreign partners in technical and economic business in 1995 and obtained ISO9001 quality system certificate in 1997.

Introduced Yellow River does the branch basin plan, the Xiaolangdi hydro-junction project,