Dujiangyan: Daoism In Practice

Dujiangyan lies about 50 kilometres north west of Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan Province in the People's Republic of China.

Dujiangyan was severely affected by the Wenchuan Earthquake which struck the region on 12 May, 2008. The city is still recovering but almost all of the tourist infrastructure is back in place and visitors are very welcome.

The Dujiangyan Irrigation Project dates back more than 2000 years.

The project was initiated at the behest of the local ruler primarily to stop seasonal flooding. Had the project only achieved that then perhaps it would not have achieved the respect that it now holds.

Li Bing, a local magistrate, received the command but died before its completion. His son continued the work but, since that took some 90 years to complete, he also never saw the end result - though he did see the project working.

Amazingly, with very little modification, the project still works efficiently to this day.

It acts without action, does without doing ...

(Dao De Jing, Chapter 63)

The project involved the creation of an artificial island mid-stream so as to split the Min River into two flows; the original course and a new channel used to irrigate the local farmland. The upstream end of this island is known as the Fish Mouth.

The irrigation channel needed to head off on a higher course and required a cut through the rocky ridge on the river's left bank below the Fish Mouth. This was achieved before metal tools were widely available and so an elemental technique was applied. Wood was burnt to heat the rock (earth); cold water was then thrown onto the rock cooling it too rapidly and causing fractures.

Truly, "The greatest carver does the least cutting."

(Dao De Jing, Chapter 28)

The island is positioned far enough off the left bank such that about 40% of the water flow goes to the irrigation channel.

Very cleverly, the island is positioned downstream of a bend in the river. This has two major benefits:

1. The water going down the irrigation channel contains more of the sediment making it more useful for agriculture, whilst providing cleaner water for drinking downstream along the Min River; and
2. During a flood the flow is stronger and more water tends to the ouside of the curve and therefore into the irrigation channel. Experience seems to have required some modification to this as two overspill channels head back from the irrigation channel to the Min River - but these only come into play once certain levels are achieved.

Building an artificial island is no mean feat especially in a large river such as the Min. In order to do this a wall was built extending out from the left bank. (You can see this clearly in the model above)

In order to stop the wall from being washed away it was built at a gentle angle, deflecting rather than stopping the main current. The stones were held together in long 'strings' in a weave of bamboo similar to a basket.

Great wooden caltrops were also built and dropped into the flow. These always land on three legs and are then a good platform on which to add further materials.

The water project at Dujiangyan was very successful; it did indeed reduce the impact of the floods it set out to control and, as a by-product managed to send water to a huge area of land thereby allowing for abundant agriculture. This is easily recognised - but the worship that still surrounds Li Bing and his construction even to this day speak of something deeper than the utilitarian outcomes. To understand this we need to know a little moreabout the Daoist concept of Wuwei.

Wuwei is a concept that is hard to explain and very difficult to translate. It is often translated as Non-Action but in fact a better explanation allows action - so long as it is in harmony with nature. Personally, I like Arthur Waley's translation actionless activity as that seems to capture the weakness of words that mark the beginning of Laozi's Dao De Jing:

The Way that can be told is not on Unvarying Way;

The names that can be named are not unvarying names;

It was from the Nameless that Heaven and Earth sprang;

The named is but the mother that rears the ten tousand creatures each after its kind.

(Dao De Jing, Chapter 1)

The artificial island at Dujiangyan encompasses the concept beautifully, using the river's own natural flow to deflect varying amounts of water to the two locations without the need for moving parts, and with hardly any further effort.

The project as a whole qualifies as Daoism in practice but there are several other aspects noted above that are worthy of mention in this respect. In fact, there are enough of these to imagine the sagely Li Bing sat high above the Min River over many weeks, perhaps even months, before noting the essential features of the river and conceiving the grand scheme that would make his name eternal.

Precedents existed for dams and weirs but Li Bing realised that to block the Min River even in the dry season would require manpower beyond his reources and that, even should he manage to complete the structure in one season, the next floods would most likely destroy the work anyway.

As an eductated man he must well have found the Chapter 78 of the Dao De Jing particularly pertinent:

Nothing under heaven is softer or more yielding than water; but when it attacks things hard and resistant there is not one of them that can prevail. For they can find no way of altering it.

That the yielding conquers the resistant and the soft conquers the hard is a fact known by all men, yet utilized by none .

(My emphasis: please see The Big Questions(s) below)

Li Bing's island alters the course of the river without attempting to stop it. Over time the Fish Mouth has needed maintenance - the modern form is made of concrete rather than stones in bamboo baskets - but the principle is the same, and the effort tiny compared to the on-going benefits.

So - if this project is so clever, and so famous, how is it that the idea is not one that we see practiced widely?

In this age where the term 'Sustainable Development' is so keenly used, why are other river systems managed as efficiently - around China and elsewhere in the world?

Surely the circumstances here are not so special that the set-up cannot be repeated.

Anyone ...

My visit was timed to coincide with the Water-Releasing Festival, an event held every 5 April (the day of the Qing Ming Festival).

The larger-than-normal crowds did not matter too much as everyone was very obviously having fun and there were many opportunities for entertaining photos.

I have covered the subject of the festival in another hub. There is a link below the photos.

There is plenty of action happening outside of the Dujiangyan site. To the right of the entrance there is a very decorative bridge which always seems to have plenty of local activity. On the far side there is a district with lots of restaurants and shops catering mostly for local and domestic tourists but certainly worthy of a trial. Explore and Enjoy.