Scenery and Wisdom of Dujiangyan

We visited Dujiangyan Irrigation System on one Sunday. Our first stop was the Erwang Temple - a good place for sightseeing which was near the mountaintop. The temple was built to memorize Li Bing and his son’s great contribution to local people. The irrigation system was a wonder in the ancient times because it was finished with unique technology over 2,000 years ago. At that time, Li Bing was a local governor of Shu State. Minjiang River originates from mountains, ran fast cross the Chengdu Plain. It caused water disaster and flooded the Chengdu area agriculture frequently which made farmers suffered great loss every year. To change the bad situation, Li Bing and his son designed this system and summoned thousands of local residents to help complete this project. When it was completed, the system automatically diverted Minjiang River and then the Chengdu Plain became one of the most fertile places in our country.



Erwang Temple was built to honor Li Bing and his son. It is a way of expressing the respect and highly praise of their virtue. It changed names several times in history. We were attracted by its broad roof and beautiful decorations. The main Hall was built for Li Bing with his statue holding a silk map in his hands and his eyes bright. It seemed that he was framing up the grand blueprint. The rear Hall was built for Li Bing’s son with his statue standing firmly with a tool in his hands. The Minjiang River was just behind him. Many people came to visit the temple and prostrated themselves before the figure of Li Bing and burned incense on July 24th, because it was Li Bing’s lunar calendar birthday according to the folk tale.



We visited delicate Guanlan Pavilion which was full of carving characters. We viewed those quotations on the stone walls which say something about how to manage the irrigation system. The Suspension Bridge was one of the ancient bridges in China which was over three hundred meters in length. The guide told us that it was made of bamboo and cane at first, and that it was replaced by steel chains bridge in the 20th century.

In the afternoon, we visited the three main parts of this great hydraulic project where the Fish Mouth Water-Dividing Dam was built in the middle of the river. The whole dam shaped like a fish and the front dam which looked like a fish mouth divided the river into inner and outer canals. The Flying Sand Fence controlling the flow of water had a wide opening from north to south and joined the two canals. In modern society, the reinforced concrete weir had replaced the original materials. Due to the time limit, we couldn’t spend too much time on the third main part-Bottle-Neck Channel and have no time to take a quick view of the Fulonguan. I was full of pride of our wisdom ancients who left these precious heritages to us. We must protect them with our own efforts and pass it from generation to generation.