Dujiangyan: Witness Harmonious Coexistence of Humans and Nature Spanning over 2,200 Years

Dujiangyan has been engraved with the ecological gene of harmony between man and water since its birth. This water conservancy project in western China, built more than 2,200 years ago, still has huge comprehensive benefits today.

China is an ancient civilization and a great country in water management. In a sense, the development history of the Chinese nation is a history of water management, and the vitality and cultural charm contained in it come from the respect and adaptation to nature. As one of the oldest, largest, and best-maintained irrigation projects in the world, Dujiangyan is the best interpretation of the ancient Chinese philosophy of harmony between man and nature and the best reference for today's sustainable development concept.

Landscape of Dujiangyan irrigation area [Photo via Sichuan Provincial Water Resources Department]

Over 2,200 years ago, Li Bing, the prefecture chief of Shu County, carefully surveyed the terrain, used the terrain of the river channel and mountains, and guided and adapted to the situation to organically combine people, land, water, and materials, and built the Dujiangyan water conservancy project. After continuous improvement by generations of hydraulic engineers, Dujiangyan has formed an organic combination of the three main projects of The Yuzui (Fish Mouth Levee), the Feishayan (Flying Sand Weir) and the Baopingkou (Bottle-Neck Channel), supplemented by the Baizhang Dike, the Jingang Dike, and the Renzi Dike, to complete the tasks of automatic water diversion, automatic sand discharge, automatic flood discharge, and water intake control.

Landscape of Dujiangyan irrigation area [Photo via Sichuan Provincial Water Resources Department]

With the completion and operation of Dujiangyan Water conservancy project, Chengdu Plain has become the land of abundance. Up to now, the area of Dujiangyan Irrigation area has reached 28,600 square kilometers, with an irrigation area of 11.332 million mu, making it one of the three largest irrigation districts in the country, ranking first in scale. The total water resources of the irrigation district are 27.2 billion cubic meters, with an average annual water supply of 8.6 billion cubic meters, covering 7 cities and 40 counties (cities and districts) in the local area, providing water services for production, living, and ecological use for 28 million people. With about 1/20 of Sichuan Province's land, the irrigation district provides 1/4 of the province's effective irrigation and food production capacity, supporting nearly 1/3 of the province's population.