It is located 33 km (21 mi) northeast of Ji'an in Jilin Province, China and Chasŏng in Chagang Province, North Korea.

Construction of the dam had initially began in August 1942 but was halted in 1945 after the surrender of Japan ending World War II.

[1] In October 1959, construction on the dam recommenced and in September 1965, the first of the four 100 MW Francis turbine-generators was operational.

The 113.75 m (373 ft) tall dam creates a reservoir with a storage capacity of 3,895,000,000 m3 (3,157,728 acre⋅ft).

The dam's spillway is an overflow type with 21 floodgates and has a maximum discharge of 21,900 m3/s (773,391 cu ft/s).