The Dujiangyan Irrigation Project in Southwest China's Sichuan Province represents ancient China's superb science and technologh and is a milestone in the world's water harnessing and irrigation history. Dujiangyan, the world's oldest diversion project without a dam, still feeds a grid of irrigation canals watering 670,000 hectares (1,675,000 acres of farmland in Sichuan, turning the province into the country's famous land of abundance since ancient times.

56 kilometers (34.8miles) west of Chengdu, the Dujiangyan Irrigation Project was built up in 256 B.C. to harness the Min River, a tributary of Yangtze River, which had frequently caused floods in rainy seasons. It was designed to divert the fast-flowing river and re-channel it into irrigation aqueducts.

As the engineering designer, Li Bing created a three-part project based around a central dam, which split the Min River into an inner flow for irrigation and an outer channel for flood control. Work was continued by Li Bing's son, and the scheme has been maintained and developed ever since, so that the present system of dams, reservoirs and pumping stations irrigate some 3.2 million hectares. In memory of the great engineer Li Bing and his son, local people built two temples: Fulong Guan and Erwang Miao by the project.

Related information:

The Four Major Ancient Water Conservancy Project in China:
Dujiangyan Irrigation Project in Chengdu, Sichuan Province
The Ling Canal in Guilin, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region
The Grand Canal from Beijing to Hangzhou
The Karez, an irrigation system of wells connected by underground channels used in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region

Other Attractions in Chengdu

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