Dujiangyan Irrigation System

The tale of my Sichuan travels is written as a continuous story and starts on the entry "In Chengdu" on Nov. 5th, 2008. For context and continuity, feel free to start back at that point and read on forward first if you have not already done so.

After lunch, we discussed our plan for the remaining day.
"Why don't you guys go tour Dujiangyan Park (都江堰)?" Larry suggested.
"What about you?" we asked
"I would go with you guys except that I forgot my senior citizen card. It let's me get in for free."
"Just pay then. It's only 60 RMB."
"I'm not paying 60 RMB. I come here free so often that there's no way I'm paying to see the same sights. It's not a big deal; take your time, I'll just hang out here by the river until you guys are done."
"What about Mt. Qingcheng (青城山)?"
"Just come back here afterwards. We'll go together then."

And so Baba and I headed off to the entrance of Dujiangyan:



Chinese Chess Pieces in the square outside the entrance:



One question that had bothered us was we didn’t understand how Dujiangyan really worked. How could a static construction project help control floods and provide adequate irrigation under dynamic conditions? We tried to look for information on the pamphlets, but couldn’t find any. So instead, we headed into the park first.



"Wow, this park looks fantastic," Baba remarked.
"They must have cleaned up pretty well after the earthquake."
"It has been six months. "Why don't you take a picture of that building over there?"



We continued down the middle road towards the fountain:



The gardens on either side:



Fountain:



Continuing on down, the road was lined with statues. I only recognized the first one, which was a statue of Zhuge Liang (諸葛亮):



All the statues were of people who had helped improve and maintain Dujiangyan, originally designed and built by Li Bing (李冰). Baba was not familiar with most of them either, but there was one that stood out:



"It's Ding Bao Zhen (丁寶楨)!" Baba exclaimed.
"Who is he?"
"He was the governor of Sichuan. However, at one point, he was the head of Shandong Province (山東) during the Qing Dynasty (清朝). The story goes that there was once a powerful but corrupt eunuch serving in the court. Using his power, the eunuch would solicit bribes from the highest bidder to help make policy decisions. Unfortunately, it was common (though perhaps unspoken) knowledge that he was Empress Cixu's (慈禧太后) favorite, no one would dare touch him. One time, on Empress Cixu's orders, the eunuch entered Shandong Province, despite the fact that eunuchs weren't allowed to travel outside the palace grounds. However, upon entry, Ding Bao Zhen had him arrested immediately and executed! He then sent a memorandum to the royal court, proclaiming, 'Your servant has captured and disposed of the evil eunuch who violated Your Highness’s laws by leaving the palace grounds.' The Empress was upset but was unable to do anything about it since he only followed the laws set forth, and so she even had to thank him and issue a memorandum in his honor."

Afterwards, Ding Bao Zhen apparently became governor of Sichuan. The famous (and frequently Americanized) Sichuanese dish Kung Pao Chicken (宮保雞丁) is named after him.

We continued on, walking all around the park, and then to the actual irrigation system. Unfortunately, much of the paths to the temples on higher grounds were closed off since repair and reconstruction operations are going on to get the park back to where it was before the earthquake. However, these pictures from my trip in 2004 better shows what the irrigation system looks like from a more aerial view:





The centerpiece in the Dujiangyan system is the very first part, known as the "fish mouth" (魚嘴). It was slightly cracked from the earthquake, but still functional:



The fishmouth somehow divides up the river into the correct proportions, inviting the right amount of water to go to one side for irrigation purposes, and the rest to allow excess water to continue on.

Two other important components of Dujiangyan are the Feishayan (飛沙堰) and the Baopingkou (宝瓶口), and the latter is shown below:



Because Dujiangyan splits up the river into different streams, there were a considerable number of bridges to cross when going from one part to another. There was at least one concrete bridge:



And a couple rope bridges:






Things were a little different than I remembered it, but my memory was a bit hazy. The most noticeable difference is the inaccesssibility of all the temples in the park. One of the most prominent temples that had collapsed was ErWang Temple (二王廟), dedicated the Li Bing and his son:



Closer up:



Compare it to 2004:



Near ErWang Temple were signs illustrating the damage to Dujiangyan:





Huge progress must have been made in the last six months.

Afterwards, we headed back to the park, taking another route out to exit:



There we saw a lake, where people were feeding lots of orange fish. The number of fish crowding around the feeding area was frightening.





We then went through a garden, where there were miniature trees and small streams & waterfalls, well framed by the Chinese garden architecture pieces.













After we finished, we left the park, but Baba and I still wasn’t sure how Dujiangyan worked.

"Why don't we go hire a tour guide," I suggested.
"But we already left the park!"
"It doesn't matter. Let's find out how much they cost, and just have them explain it to us."

And so instead of leaving clueless, we went to the counter and got a tour guide for 60 RMB, even though we weren't heading back into the park. First, she showed us a model:



She started to explain: "There are three main parts to the Dujiangyan system: 1) the Fish Mouth at the front which separates the waters and the silt correctly, 2) Feishayan (Flying Sand Weir), which allows excess water to drain out via a dam, and 3) Baopingkou, which is the channel that distributes water to the farmlands, but has a narrow entrance that creates a whirlpool which carries excess water over to Feishayan."

"So why is it that the Fish Mouth can separate water at the right proportions regardless of whether the water level is high or low?"

"It’s because one stream was narrower and deeper, while the other is wider and shallower. During normal times, most of the water would flow into the narrow and deep stream (the inner stream), and irrigate the fields. However, when it floods, the majority of the excess water would go to the wide stream since the narrow one would be saturated. Also, the wider stream would carry 80% of the silt away."

We were enlightened. The design was genius.

"You mentioned that Feishayan was essentially a dam that could allow excess water to drain out. How did they dam it before modern dams?"
"It was with the stones tied up in the bamboo sacks that you must've have seen in the park," she replied.
"Oh those things!"



"Yes, they simply cut the rope holding the sacks and let the river carry them away when the dam needed to be opened. They can close it again by reattaching new sacks."

Though unorthodox in our use of tour guides, we got our money's worth. It's probably easier to explain how it all works via the model rather than walking around all over the park anyhow.


When we got back to discuss our next step with Larry, we saw he was talking with a lady who was selling tea. They had been talking about all sorts of topics for over an hour!

"Did Larry buy any tea from you," I asked.
"No... I tried to negotiate with him, but my lowest price was 100 RMB for 4 斤 (2 kg), but he would only pay 80 RMB, so it didn't happen."
"Oh really! Larry! I'm ashamed of you!" Baba exclaimed. "You've been talking this woman's ear off for an hour and you still won't give her any business!"
"Come on, John, you know I can't compromise on my principles," Larry joked.
"I'll tell you what - why don't I pay the 20 RMB difference?" Baba suggested. "Larry can pay the 80 RMB he thinks the tea is worth, and you will get your 100 RMB!"

It was a brilliant idea, and Larry, caught by surprise, bursted into spontaneous laughter. It was obvious he really didn’t want the tea, but could not say so after he had already named his price. We all cracked up, including the sales lady.

"You know we just talked to a tour guide about Dujiangyan - it was 60 RMB for 15 minutes!" wheezed Baba through the laughter, trying to catch his breath. "You got yourself a great deal - you're only paying 80 RMB but you got to talk to her for over an hour!"

Larry couldn't respond as he couldn't stop laughing. We paid 100 RMB in total, and were left with 2 kg of tea that we didn't know what to do with. After all, we could drink this tea for 3 years.

Sorrow in Dujiangyan

The tale of my Sichuan travels is written as a continuous story and starts on the entry "In Chengdu" on Nov. 5th, 2008. For context and continuity, feel free to start back at that point and read on forward first if you have not already done so.

The driver drops everyone else off, and agrees to give us a small tour of the damaged areas. Dujiangyan, is a much bigger city than Maoxian or Wenchuan, but it looks like it was much more affected by the earthquake. There were many more damaged and unusable buildings:











But by no means a dead town – there were plenty of lively places as well:







There were also rebuilding efforts are also underway:



After the tour, the driver drops us off near Dujiangyan Park, the park that contains the world famous UNESCO World Heritage Site: The Dujiangyan Irrigation Project. Near the entrance, people were trying to sell all sorts of things – maps, food (corn on the cob, tofu, black rice, etc), toys, and newspapers. There was even someone trying to sell DVDs of the day of the earthquake. At first, I was repulsed by the fact someone was trying to make money off of the disaster, but then realized that it is precisely because of the disaster that people are trying to make money with whatever they can. And selling DVDs of the disaster not only brings immediately financial benefits, but also spreads awareness of the incident and allows people to better remember what happened here. And so I bought a DVD before we headed over to the riverside to have lunch at a restaurant.

However, our lunch was not a peaceful one. Every few minutes, someone would come by asking if we wanted to buy stuff. An old lady tried to get me to buy a map for the longest time. I felt bad, but I didn’t want to buy the map, and if I started buying even things I didn't want, I was sure I would be swarmed with more vendors pushing me to buy more things. We ignored her and kept eating, but she would not leave. Next came a newspaper vendor who was selling newspapers for many times the value printed on the newspaper. We declined this one as well. After that, other vendors also dropped by trying to sell Larry toys or tea leaves. None of this was around in 2004 when I visited Dujiangyan, when it was a much more prosperous city. Recent hardships have forced people to try to aggressively sell to tourists, which have made Dujiangyan somewhat more unpleasant.

The Road to Dujiangyan

The tale of my Sichuan travels is written as a continuous story and starts on the entry "In Chengdu" on Nov. 5th, 2008. For context and continuity, feel free to start back at that point and read on forward first if you have not already done so.

We got up the next day around 7am to a sudden knock at the door. It was the landlady.
"Psst! Are you guys awake?"
"Yes...?"
"There's a driver going to Dujiangyan (94 km away from Wenchuan) right now She called us up, and said that there was a driver going to Dujiangyan, and he’s looking for passengers. He’s offering a special price, a really cheap rate."
"How much exactly?"
"The driver is here. You can ask him."

We got up and and met the driver, who said it would be just 100 RMB for the three of us, which was pretty cheap compared to what was offered the day before by the other guy. We got our stuff together and hopped on to the bread van, which was full of other passengers. There were probably 8 of us in total.

At the start, the scenery around us looked okay – there was not too much damage, just the natural scenery you'd see on any mountain road, which we were able to go at a decent speed on due to lack of early morning traffic.



However, after perhaps 20-30 minutes, traffic slowed down and we stopped as we neared a tunnel.



Larry decided to go for a walk, and Baba and I joined him as well. We walked up towards the front, and saw that the cars in front of us were held in front of the tunnel, where traffic was being directed thru. In a few minutes, our line of cars started moving, and we hurried back. However, when I came back, I noticed that the passnenger sitting to my right was smoking. He had also spat on the ground near where I had put my feet. I was disgusted, but didn’t say anything to him. Then I looked up – all the rest of the passengers plus the driver was smoking! Looks like they all decided to take a cigarette break while we were away, but were "nice" enough to hold it in while we were still on board.

Our van lurched forward, and we were into the tunnel. It was rather dark and a little smoky, but after a minute or two, we emerged out of the other side, only to face a surreal scene.

After our eyes had adjusted to the strong light that had poured back into our senses, we stared in awe of the scene around us. somehow, it was as if we had accidentally stumbled right into the Gates of Hell.



Destruction and mayhem was everywhere. There were huge, broken highway bridges cast on their side like discarded giant toys. Buildings to the left and right were in ruins.






Bridges were broken, and temporary army bridges built by the engineering corps in a day were there in their place. Large boulders and small rocks littered the ground.



The landscape suddenly appeared especially ominous;



in some areas, the treacherous mountains had released their avalanche of rocks onto the road below.



Still in awe of the awfulness around us, we continued on slowly for several minutes in silence, until we got into a second tunnel, where we once again were stuck in traffic. This time, we were stuck behind a huge truck, not too far from the exit. Though the tunnel was lit, visibility was not good and it had a funny smell due to poor ventilation.

Suddenly a shadowy figure approached our van; as it drew closer to our vehicle, we spun around instinctively to face the intruder. It was an old lady, trying to sell us some snacks! Apparently this spot (as well as some others up ahead) often get backed up for long periods of time, and the locals try to take advantage of that to hawk various snacks to the captive travelers.

We got moving in a few minutes however, but once we exited the tunnel, we were stuck again. And so Baba decided to buy some stuff – he got a couple hard-boiled eggs from some lady that wasa selling.



We weren’t moving for a long time, so the three of us decided to get out of the car again to see what was going on.



As we got out, we noticed some of our fellow drivers were hauling very interesting loads:





We walked to the front of the line of cars to see what the commotion was all about. A big bulldozer was blocking the traffic; it was in position to push some rocks up the mountain. A few people worked next to it, surveying the situation with the rocks.



Meanwhile, to the right, a bunch of men in orange construction outfits were busy adjusting the settings on a pulley machine of some sort.



Larry went to talk with a group of engineers. Soon, he came back and explained what was going on.

“There are actually two different groups of engineers working on two different problems. The first group is the one that concerns us. You see those guys up in the mountains?" He pointed up to the left:



"I don't really see anything," I said.
"Look closer."



"Their job is to knock down the loose rocks to the road below, and then the bulldozer is supposed to clear those rocks once they are down. Basically, they’re here to take some preventive measures and ensure no rocks fall on the cars below as we drive through this stretch.”
“I see.”
“The other group, the one with that pulley machine, is setting it up so that it hooks onto the new roadway built over there, and drag it across onto the columns to build the bridge.”

We walked back to the car to explain the situation to the driver, who was waiting anxiously. He slumped in and resigned himself to waiting indefinitely after we described the situation.

We got back to the front of the cars again, to see what Larry was up to. He was still hanging around, talking with the people there. There was a woman there in construction uniform – apparently she was the one directing the rock-clearing operation.

People began honking their horns rather impatiently as they have been waiting for about 40 minutes now, with no signs of progress.
"Perhaps we should tell them what's going on," I suggested.
"Sure - you can do that if you want, but I don't think it'll help."
"You're right, we have no estimate of how much longer it'll be."

Luckily, only after another good 20-30 minutes, we finally got moving. The bulldozer moved out, and they started signaling cars to cross. We ran back to our car, which was somewhat of a scary prospect - with so many cars, and added time pressure, it would be easy to pass ours by accident.

However, we managed to get back right when they were about to get moving. Yet by the time we got to where they were clearing out the rocks, they signaled us to stop, and allowed the other side to cross. The first set of vehicles coming from the other side was a bunch of motorcycles and a military officer in an all new Toyota Land Cruiser Prado.



After they all pass, we finally cross, and continued forward now at a much slower pace. Here the scene is even more precipitous, and the atmosphere felt even more dangerous.





We saw big rocks that had smashed down to the ground – one boulder that had fallen on the road was so large it was unable to be moved. There was just a sign which signaled drivers to go around. We started seeing more buildings. We must have reached Yingxiu, though the driver did not stop.





There were shattered buildings everywhere. Across on the other side, half a mountain had fallen down.





Except for an occasional gasp at another horror ahead of us, no one said a word.

After passing by the hydroelectric dam that was being rebuilt, we neared the site of a new bridge for Dujiangyan.



We had finally arrived. It was getting close to 12pm. Though Wenchuan to Dujiangyan was just 94 km, we took a little under 4 hours to get there.