The River Chief System (RCS) is China's recent approach to water/river management. In RCS, local head officials are assigned major water management responsibilities for their local rivers and water sections, as opposed to different departments being responsible for separate aspects of water management. The ‘Tiao-Kuai’ relationship implies China's bureaucratic structure. ‘Kuai’ represents horizontal jurisdictional government from the provincial to town level and ‘Tiao’ refers to vertical functional departments that receive guidance from upper-level departments and provide professional consultation to local government. However, local governments still control human resources and funding, creating dual leaderships that can lead to confusion in management. More importantly, before the implementation of RCS, China's water management was fragmented across several departments, with unclear responsibility and leadership. This led to a situation where “Nine Dragons run the water”. ‘Nine Dragons’ refers to the various water-management related departments, each with its own interests and management objectives, but none taking the leadership, leaving room for policy entrepreneurs due to resource competitions or a regulatory vacuum that passes the buck when held accountable. Whilst current literature has focused on RCS's outcomes and impacts at the macro-level, questions remain regarding how the system is being implemented at the local level, and particularly how it is influencing the administrations and institutional structure of China’s water/river management. My research aims to answer these questions by investigating the implementation of RCS at the local level, from the county to the town level. I will adopt qualitative approaches, including semi-structured interviews and documentary analysis, to understand how RCS effect the "Nine Dragons" and "Tiao-Kuai" relationship barriers in China's local water/river management. By doing so, my research hopes to contribute to a better understanding of China's water management system and new ‘Tiao-Kuai’ relationship.