Abstract: Cistern is a common small-scale water conservancy project, but has significant importance in small watershed management. In the light of the characteristics of soil and water loss in Jiangxi Province, Shenquan watershed, a part of Shenlu project located in Lianhua County, Jiangxi province and a state key project of soil and water conservation, is taken as an object to study the design criteria of cistern adapting to the practical condition of Jiangxi Province from the aspects of project layout, capacity calculation, composition and design, as well as safety and stability calculation and etc. following the principle of "advanced technology, economic feasible, safe and reliable", and by referring to the national standard of Specifications for design of soil and water conservation engineering (GB 51018-2014). The experience has some reference for the plan and design of soil-water loss prevention and conservation in red soil area of Jiangxi Province and south China.