River cruise restores ancient custom at Dujiangyan Dam

Actors play the ancient governor Li Bing and his subordinate as they inspect the water system at the Ancient River Cruise Imitation Ceremony held in Dujiangyan on April 2.

A large-scale landscape show takes place along the Minjiang River in memory of Li Bing, designer of the Dujiangyan irrigation system.

An Ancient River Cruise Imitation Ceremony was held on April 2 as a key part of the 2013 China Dujiangyan Qingming Water-Releasing Festival that opened on April 4 in Dujiangyan, Chengdu, Sichuan province.

At the ceremony, actors imitated the ancient engineer Li Bing and his subordinates while they inspected the Dujiangyan irrigation system. Li Bing is the designer of the Dujiangyan irrigation system, and he served the state of Qin (221 – 206 BC) as an administrator.

According to historical records, the Dujiangyan system was built in 256AD to tame frequent flooding of the Minjiang River. It has stood for nearly 2,300 years, diverting water to irrigate nearly 70,000 hectares of farmland in the province. It is considered to be the oldest water-control project still functioning in the world.

The Dujiangyan irrigation system was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000. It was also listed among the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects in 2006.