Dujiangyan Irrigation System Travel Guide

The Dujiangyan Irrigation system is a miracle of ancient Chinese ingenuity. Before the completion of Dujiangyan, the plains around the Mingjiang River were prone to floods due to the fast moving Min River flowing down from its mountain source and meeting flat ground.

Libing, the governor and his son during Qin Dynasty (221-206 B.C) constructed it over 2000 years ago. Since then, the Chengdu Plain has been free of flooding and the people have been living peacefully and affluently. And thank for the system, Chengdu gets the name of "Heavenly State" (Tian Fu Zhi Guo).

56 kilometers away from Chengdu City, Dujiangyan Irrigation System is located by the Mingjiang River in the west of Chengdu Plain. The project consists of three important parts, namely Yuzui, Feishayan and Baopingkou scientifically designed to automatically control the water flow of the rivers from the mountains to the plains throughout the year.

Yuzui, like a big fish lying in the Minjiang River, is a watershed dividing the river into two parts: Inner River and Outside River. Feisha Yan is a spillway that diverts the sand and stones of the inner river into the outer river. Baoping Kou, like a neck of a bottle, is used to bring water into the inner river from Minjiang. The central brilliant idea of the project is the annual silt removal and maintenance plan devised by Li Bing that ensures the projects long-term usefulness.