Abstract: Characters of the freeze/thaw date of river ice in the Liaohe, Yalu, and Linghe River basins and their responses to regional warming are investigated in the period 1981-2009. The results show that the freeze dates ranged from 3 to 15 November, the thaw dates appeared within15-30 March, and the average frozen durations of the three basins ranged from 120 to 146 days. In the past 29 years, the freeze (thaw) date has shown a postponing (bring-forward) trend, thereby the frozen duration has shortened significantly. The river’s freeze date was mainly influenced by November’s minimum surface air temperature, while the river’s thaw date was mostly sensitive to the increasing of ground surface temperature in March, and the frozen duration was most sensitive to the average surface air temperature of November to next March.