The Ingenieur Vol 57 January-March 2014 The Ingenieur Vol 57 January-March 2014 | Page 76

PHOTO FEATURE

INGENIEUR

The Marvel of 2,200-year
old Irrigation Structure at
Dujiangyan
By Fong Pok Yee, ATAM, AAT(ASEAN)

Sample of woven bamboo
basket filled with stone and
wooden tripod used for the
construction of levee on display
at the entrance to Dujiangyan
irrigation works

View of inner stream with
Dujiangyan town in the
background

Statue of Li Bing and his son

It was by chance during my trip
to Chengdu in Sichuan province,
China that the locals suggested
that I visit the old irrigation
structure at Dujiangyan; a
one-hour journey by bus from
Chengdu city or 30 minutes by
high speed train.
The idea of the constructing
a levee, or dyke, was conceived
by the then Governor of the Shu
district, Li Bing, and his son
in the Qin dynasty during the
warring states period of 406221 BC. The people living on
the plains along the Ming river
were plagued by annual floods
when the water from the nearby
mountains swelled the river after

the snow melts in spring. When
the water reached the slower
flowing reaches of the river, it
burst its banks. Li Bing was also
charged in keeping the waterway
open for military vessels to send
troops to the frontiers. As such,
building a dam could not be
considered.
Li Bing travelled over
70 miles of the surrounding
area, studying the topography
and examining the behaviour
of natural water courses. He
finally came up with the idea of
constructing an artificial levee or
dyke to redirect a portion of the
river’s flow to new a channel by
cutting through Yulei Mountain

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VOL 57 JANUARY-MARCH 2014
VOL 55 JUNE 2013