A short bus ride through city to the Research Base where a ceremony took place again emphasizing the relationships Chengdu has with its sister cities. Pandas were linked with individual cities and as I understood it, the panda named "Mei Lan" is associated with Phoenix. The Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding is quite large and is situated in rolling hills. The delegates toured on foot and by motorized carts. The pandas seemed oblivious to all the attention of the visitors. They seemed very relaxed chewing on bamboo. The delegates made their way to an area prepared for them to plant bamboo. All though dressed for more formal meetings later that day everyone seemed to manage the task of planting on the muddy hillside - and had a lot of fun doing their part in creating the Sister Cities Bamboo Garden
Video of the ceremony & the planting of bamboo by all the delegates
Lunch was at the Junshoufu Restaurant, right on the edge the Dujiangyan Irrigation System (the fastest moving body of water I have ever seen.) The ancient town was one of the hardest hit in the 2008 earthquake. Much restorative work has been done in the last three years with life continuing has it has in the area for millennia. We crossed the fast moving water on two different pedestrian suspension bridges along with hundreds of other visitors. The wind was blowing hard but it wasn't at all cold. Shops lined the lane at the edge of the river. Small businesses selling fruits and vegetables, all kinds of fish, mostly still alive, t-shirts and trinkets, and massage services with a couple of lounge chairs facing the open doors so one can watch the people on the street passing by.
Dujiangyan Irrigation System & Mout Qingcheng:
In China, Chengdu is always praised as the Tian Fu Zhi Guo, which means 'Nature's Storehouse'. Over 2,200 years ago, the city was threatened by the frequent floods caused by flooding of the Minjiang River (a tributary of the Yangtze River ). Li Bing, a local official of Sichuan Province at that time, together with his son, decided to construct an irrigation system on the Minjiang River to prevent flooding. After a lengthy study and a lot of hard work by the local people, the great Dujiangyan Irrigation Project was completed.
Since then, the Chengdu Plain has been free of flooding and the people have been living peacefully and affluently. Now, the project is honored as the 'Treasure of Sichuan', which still plays a crucial role in draining off floodwater, irrigating farms and providing water resources for more than 50 cities in the province.
Dujiangyan is the oldest and only surviving no-dam irrigation system in the world; and a wonder in the development of Chinese science. The project consists of three important parts, namely Yuzui, Feishayan and Baopingkou scientifically designed to automatically control the water flow of the rivers from the mountains to the plains throughout the year.
Yuzui, like a big fish lying in the Minjiang River, is a watershed dividing the river into two parts: Inner River and Outside River. FeishaYan is a spillway that diverts the sand and stones of the inner river into the outer river. Baoping Kou, like a neck of a bottle, is used to bring water into the inner river from Minjiang. At the same time, Baoping Kou controls the amount of the intake water due to its reasonable location. These three parts interact with each other perfectly to form an effective water conservancy project. During the low-water season, 60% of the Minjiang water is brought into the inner river for irrigation while 40% of the water is drawn into the outside river. The situation is reversed in the flood season ensuring the water supply for irrigation and protection from flooding on the Chengdu Plain.
There is a magnificent bridge called the Anlan Cable Bridge crossing the Minjiang River above Yuzui, which is the most scenic place in Dujiangyan. The construction of the bridge originally commenced before the Song Dynasty (960-1279). At that time, the body of the bridge was constructed with wooden blocks and the handrails were made of bamboo. Recently the wood and bamboo were replaced with steel and reinforced concrete to ensure the security of the visitors. Seen from afar, the bridge looks like a rainbow hanging over the river. From the bridge, you can clearly see the entire layout of the Dujiangyan system.
Lunch was at the Junshoufu Restaurant, right on the edge the Dujiangyan Irrigation System (the fastest moving body of water I have ever seen.) The ancient town was one of the hardest hit in the 2008 earthquake. Much restorative work has been done in the last three years with life continuing has it has in the area for millennia. We crossed the fast moving water on two different pedestrian suspension bridges along with hundreds of other visitors. The wind was blowing hard but it wasn't at all cold. Shops lined the lane at the edge of the river. Small businesses selling fruits and vegetables, all kinds of fish, mostly still alive, t-shirts and trinkets, and massage services with a couple of lounge chairs facing the open doors so one can watch the people on the street passing by.
Dujiangyan Irrigation System & Mout Qingcheng:
In China, Chengdu is always praised as the Tian Fu Zhi Guo, which means 'Nature's Storehouse'. Over 2,200 years ago, the city was threatened by the frequent floods caused by flooding of the Minjiang River (a tributary of the Yangtze River ). Li Bing, a local official of Sichuan Province at that time, together with his son, decided to construct an irrigation system on the Minjiang River to prevent flooding. After a lengthy study and a lot of hard work by the local people, the great Dujiangyan Irrigation Project was completed.Since then, the Chengdu Plain has been free of flooding and the people have been living peacefully and affluently. Now, the project is honored as the 'Treasure of Sichuan', which still plays a crucial role in draining off floodwater, irrigating farms and providing water resources for more than 50 cities in the province.
Dujiangyan is the oldest and only surviving no-dam irrigation system in the world; and a wonder in the development of Chinese science. The project consists of three important parts, namely Yuzui, Feishayan and Baopingkou scientifically designed to automatically control the water flow of the rivers from the mountains to the plains throughout the year.
Yuzui, like a big fish lying in the Minjiang River, is a watershed dividing the river into two parts: Inner River and Outside River. FeishaYan is a spillway that diverts the sand and stones of the inner river into the outer river. Baoping Kou, like a neck of a bottle, is used to bring water into the inner river from Minjiang. At the same time, Baoping Kou controls the amount of the intake water due to its reasonable location. These three parts interact with each other perfectly to form an effective water conservancy project. During the low-water season, 60% of the Minjiang water is brought into the inner river for irrigation while 40% of the water is drawn into the outside river. The situation is reversed in the flood season ensuring the water supply for irrigation and protection from flooding on the Chengdu Plain.There is a magnificent bridge called the Anlan Cable Bridge crossing the Minjiang River above Yuzui, which is the most scenic place in Dujiangyan. The construction of the bridge originally commenced before the Song Dynasty (960-1279). At that time, the body of the bridge was constructed with wooden blocks and the handrails were made of bamboo. Recently the wood and bamboo were replaced with steel and reinforced concrete to ensure the security of the visitors. Seen from afar, the bridge looks like a rainbow hanging over the river. From the bridge, you can clearly see the entire layout of the Dujiangyan system.
From Dujiangyan the six buses travled to Jinling Garden, a Post-disaster Reconstruction Project. This was an other town that was destroyed by the 2008 earthquake and had in three years been completely rebuilt. The town had even built a museum dedicated to the town's history and specifically documenting the destruction and rebuilding. As so many lost loved ones in the earthquake, the museum has been met, understandably, with mixed emotions. None the less, although everything is new, the museum creates a link to the town's history. It could be thought of as a memorial to all those who lives were lost that day. We learned from the delegates from Gisors, France, Francios Letierce and Bing Xie that their firm, F & B Urbanisme et Paysage, has been directly involved with design proposals for the reconstruction of earthquake devastated areas.
The evening was a complete change of scenery. Although returning to the Jinjjiang Hotel for the second banquet, this evening was the opening celebration of the International Festival of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. The circular head table seated about forty dignitaries, including some of the highest ranking Chinese officials. The evening was filled with speeches and entertainment that was a prelude to the ceremonies to take place the next morning. The Phoenix delegation shared their table with representatives from Great Britain (John Hancock of BDP Architects, John Lee of Bond Bryan Architects, and Eddie Murphy of MottMacDonald) and from Poland (Igor Chilimonczyk of Wroclaw Foreign Relations Office.). It was a great night of exchanging thoughts and ideas.
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