Abstract：The Tamsui River is a crossdomain river，whose governance power and management right belong to different levels of Taiwan’s government. However， the systematic deficiency does not hide the effectiveness of governance. Based on extensive literature reviews and indepth interviews，this study finds out that the efficiency of governing of the Tamsui River is a creative achievement of negotiation and cooperation of different stakeholders. Specifically， higherlevel government plays the role of “navigator” by formulating major policies，laws and regulations which can regulate the behavior of local governments and citizens，and also providing financial supports for specific governance projects； The local governments are the “executor” of policy， but also providing the negotiation platform for various stakeholders； To a large extent， civil society acts as the “supervisor”. They have spontaneously established the river patrol team to assist the government，and also to monitor the governance behaviors of governments.
