The China Diary: Day 8, Dujiangyan

Dujiangyan, The famous Dam of China

The historical Dam is now a beautiful Park honoring the ingenuity of Governor Li Bing.

This is a fountain at the Dujiangyan Park that shows how the original levee was made. They created these "logs" using stones wrapped and woven by bamboo. It is quite fascinating and ingenious to use the strong tools from nature to help manage the raging Minjiang River.

There are three parts to the Dujiangyan Dam System, the Fish Mouth, the Flying Sand Weir, and the Bottle-Neck Channel.

This is the "Fish Mouth" of Dujiangyan Irrigation system. It's where the Minjiang River is split to control flooding but also to allow plains in the Chengdu area to harvest well. This area has beautiful scenery between the mountains, it is so breathtaking.

The Flying Sand Weir is a spillway that separates the sand and the stones from the raging inner river, to the outer river. This allows the water of the inner river to flow faster.

The Bottle-neck, is exactly like it sounds. It controls the amount of water that flows into the Minjiang river and allows it to flow at a smooth rate.

It is amazing to learn of the history and ingenuity of the Chinese people who were able to solve their problems for major cities, and provide resources to their people. If you get a chance, you should definitely visit this park. The park itself has multiple temples and is beautiful to walk around.