Thursday, October 16, 2008

Dujiangyan City

Dujiangyan is a county-level city of Chengdu, Sichuan Province in China. It has an area of 1208 square kilometers and a population of 600,000 in 2003.

Dujiangyan used to be a county named ''Guanxian'' or Guan County , in Chinese literally "irrigation" county . The People's Republic of China created a county-level city in 1988, and renamed it in honor of the Dujiangyan Irrigation System, which is located in the northwestern area of the city, famous for still providing neighboring major city Chengdu with water even though it was built around 250 BC.

History


Around 250 BC during the Warring States Period , Li Bing, a governor of Shu in the Qin state with his son directed the construction of Dujiangyan. The governor gave up the old way of dam building, which was simply trying to catch the floodwaters. Instead he employed a new method by channeling and dividing the water to harness the . He accomplished this by separating the project into two main parts: the headwork and the irrigation system. The project effectively put flood waters under control. For over two thousand years the whole system has functioned perfectly, serving not only for flood prevention but also as an immense source for irrigation and a means to facilitate shipping and wood drifting. It has contributed greatly to the richness of Chengdu Plain with its reputation as "The Land of Abundance".

On 12 May 2008, the city was the closest to the epicenter the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and the city suffered severe damage. Xinjian Primary School, Juyuan Middle School, and Xiang'e Middle School collapsed in the earthquake; Beijie Primary School did not collapse.

Administrative divisions


Dujiangyan has 17 and 2 :
*Towns:
**Guankou
**Xingfu
**Puyang
**Juyuan
**Chongyi
**Tianma
**Shiyang
**Liujie
**Yutang
**Zhongxing
**Qingchengshan
**Longchi
**Xujia
**Anlong
**Daguan
**Zipingpu
**Cuiyuehu
*Townships:
**Xiang'e
**Hongkou

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