As far as the Mekong River water conflicts are concerned, numerous articles have been written to describe the upstream riparian state- China as a malevolent hydro-hegemon and warn of the risk of water wars arising from China’s unilateral actions to utilize the shared water resources. For years, China has been criticized for not joining the Mekong River Commission (MRC) while unilaterally building dams on the upstream. However, in the past few years, there have been some major changes in China’s policy towards the Mekong River water issues. The country has begun to take the lead in pushing forward multilateral transboundary water cooperation in the Mekong River Basin through the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Mechanism (LMC). This seminar aims to examine the recent changes in China’s Mekong River policy and investigate the factors that contribute to such changes. Based on his field trip observations along Upper Mekong River (Lancang River in China), personal interviews with Chinese experts as well analysis of government documents and scholarly articles published both in Chinese and English, the speaker makes the case that China is adopting water diplomacy in Mekong River and this policy shift is at least partially attributed to active lobbying by Yunnan provincial government, and the collaboration between Yunnan and its counterparts in neighbouring countries.