Dujiangyan - The 2,300 Year Irrigation Wonder

Wednesday, April 10, 2013  , , , , , , , ,  

Dujiangyan (都江堰)
Sichuan (四川), China (中国)
April 2013

Dujiangyan (都江堰) is an irrigation infrastructure built in 256 BC during the Warring States Period (战国时代) of China by the Kingdom of Qin (秦朝). It is located in the Min River (岷江) in Sichuan (四川) province, China, near the capital Chengdu. It is still in use today to irrigate over 5,300 square kilometers of land in the region, and to prevent flooding of the Chengdu Plain (成都平原) due to excess water from the mountains in the Sichuan region.


  • History

During the Warring States period (406–221 BC), people who lived along the banks of the Min River were plagued by annual flooding. Qin governor Li Bing (李冰) investigated the problem and discovered that the river was swelled by fast flowing spring melt-water from the local mountains that burst the banks when it reached the slow moving and heavily silted stretch below.

One solution would have been to build a dam but that would mean closing the waterway for military vessels to supply troops on the frontier. Instead, the construction of an artificial levee to redirect a portion of the river's flow and then to cut a channel through Mount Yulei to discharge the excess water upon the dry Chengdu Plain beyond.

Prior to the invention of gunpowder, the tools available to Li Bing were limited. To penetrate the hard rock of the mountain, he super-heated the rocks then chilled them with cold water to create fissures before his workers could crack and remove them. After eight years, a 20-metre wide channel was created through Mount Yulei.
    

More photos are available on Merlion Wayfarer Goes World's Picasa at :
Sichuan - Dujiangyan (都江堰)
   

Sources