Chengdu Trip April 10, 2008
(Dujiangyan, Qingcheng Mountain)
April 10, 2008. Most of the people in the group were a little tired and they chose to stay at Jinza Prime Hotel instead of going on with the program today. There were two sightseeing programs - Dujiangyan and Qingcheng Mountain. Duanjiangyan is located about 60km west of Chengdu. Dujiangyan is an ancient irrrigation project in China, built about 2000 years ago. Now it is still in use. It is located in the middle part of Minjiang River, the largest tributary of Yangtze River. During the ancient time, the Minjiang River was prone to the flooding mainly due to the fast running Minjiang River flowing down from its mountain source and entering flat ground. 2200 year ago, the local governor- Li Bing with his son devoted most of their life led the construction of the Dujiangyan irrigation project that smartly controlled the Minjiang River and irrigated the surrounding plains.The governor didn't use the old way of dam building which was just to stop the floods. Instead he made us of a new method by dividing the water into two channels to tame the Minjiang River; one channel for irrigation and the other channel for headwork. When it is a raining season and too much water in Min river. The headwork works and control the flood. When it is in a dry season, just stop the head work and use the irrigation system only. The project effectively put the flooding waters under control.
After lunch, we went on visisting Qingcheng Mountain which, together with Dujiangyan, is listed as World Cultural Heritage. It is about 16 kms away from Dujiangyan, 65 km west of Chengdu. Qingcheng Mountain is one of the top 10 daoist mountains in China. It is about 2400 meters high above the sea-level. Qingchengshan Mountain (Qingchengshan) is one of the ancient cradles of Daoism. The mountain has many Daoist temples and palaces along the paths leading t its peak. The mountain is green all year round and is known for its secluded tranquility. It is a World Cutural Heritage.
The entrance to Dujiangyan
A panoramic view of Dujiangyan Profect. The water is coming from the right to the left entering the city of Chengdu. The water running down is channeled into two parts; the upper part for headwork and lower part for irrigation. Now it was in spring. The farmers need the water. So the headwork was closed. When in raining season, the headwork will be open for the tame the flood.
A suspension bridge is over both the irrigation river ( inner river ) and the river for headwork ( out river ). The irrigation river is deep while the headwork river is shellow. You can find a fish-mouth rock projecting into the Minjiang River dividing the river into two parts to put the river under control and make use of the river for irrigation at the same time.
Walking on the suspension bridge
The irigation river or also called inner river. The river was made possible by cutting through the mountain.
A close look at the fish mouth
A picture of the Dujingyan Irrigation system. The water is coming up and down. The left sided river ( outside river ) is for headwork and the right side river ( inner river ) for irrigation.
The Erwang Temple, a temple by the local people in memory of Libing and his son for the project
Coming out of Erwang Temple
The Statue of Libing
Lunch at Zhenga Grand Hotel
A nice lunch with cozy enviroment
It only takes half hour from our restautant at Dujiangyan to Qingcheng Mountain by coach. Got off the bus, we were on the way to the cable car station. The mountain is famous for its greenery
Hiking on the way to the cable station
Enjoying a sedan chair
To get to the cable station, we had to take a 5-minute boat ride
Taking the cable car up to the mountain
Posed in front of the 4 charactors - Da Da Wu Wei - the essence of Daoism
The entrance to Shangqing Palace - one of the famous daoist temples in China. The Shangqing Palace was first constructed in the Jin dynasty and the extant temple was re-built during the reign of Tongzhi in Qing dynasty
The three kings palace at Shanqing Palace
The kings in Daoism
Dinner at a famous restautant in Chengdu - Baguobuyi
People enjoyed the dinner
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