Broadcasting Time: 2006-11-24



Wu Jia: Hello, and welcome to the general knowledge contest on Sichuan, the home of the giant panda. I'm Wu Jia. Today we'll take a trip to Mount Qingcheng and Dujiangyan. First of all, two very simple quiz questions.

Question number one: Is Mount Qingcheng the birthplace of Taoism?
Question two: How old is Dujiangyan, the earliest irrigation system still operating in the world?

Mount Qingcheng is located northwest of Sichuan's capital, Chengdu. It's an hour's drive from Chengdu to Mount Qingcheng.

Qingcheng means "green town" in Chinese and the mountain has without a doubt lived up to its name. Seen from a distance, the mountain is surrounded by countless peaks and densely forested. Its front face is celebrated in a series of ancient temples, which are closely associated with the Taoist faith.

Mount Qingcheng is the birthplace of China's indigenous religion—Taoism. It's one of the most influential religions in East Asia with a long history. Hundreds of Taoist monks and nuns currently practicing in Mount Qingcheng follow austere Taoist doctrines. Our tour guide Kang Yu says things were quite different when the Taoist religion was founded here some 1,800 years ago.

"Taoists used to practice Taoism at home. They were allowed to get married and have children. They could also drink alcohol and eat meat. Taoists did good deeds whenever they had an opportunity. But now, they have to become monks or nuns and are denied alcohol and meat and deprived of marriage and offspring."

You can feel a strong Taoist atmosphere here in Mount Qingcheng. Taoist temples and pavilions are mostly shrouded in the exuberance of trees. This is in accordance with Taoist principles of respecting and advocating nature. With Taoist classics by renowned ancient Chinese philosophers Laozi and Zhuangzi attracting more earnest readers and followers, Mount Qingcheng has attracted an increasing number of visitors. A temple named Shangqing Palace is the most popular one. This is the place where the founder of Taoism, Laozi, is enshrined. Pilgrims from both home and abroad come here in an endless stream.

The sight is quite different in the back of Mount Qingcheng. There aren't as many tourists and pilgrims, so it's quieter and offers more to see in the way of nature. The ancient town of Taian is seated right here. It's a pretty comfy place to take a rest.

One can totally walk barefoot on the tidy stone paths of Taian. On each side of the pathway stand houses with engraved front gates, white walls and blue tiles. Creeks circle the town and wind around each house. Huang Weiqi is a landscape painter with Chinese ink and wash. He comes all the way from southern China's Guangzhou to escape the metropolitan hustle and bustle.

"For me to paint a landscape painting, Mount Qingcheng is an ideal place. It offers me easy access to appreciate the Taoist thoughts and feelings. People here are simple and honest. If I can, I wish to come and live here for a month every year."

Mount Qingcheng is famous summer vacations. It is listed on the World Culture Relics list together with nearby Dujingyan, an ancient irrigation system.

The Dujiangyan Irrigation Project is in the middle reaches of the Minjiang River, which is the longest tributary of the Yangtze River.

Built more than two thousand years ago, Dujiangyan is the world's oldest water conservation project that is still in operation. Other famous ancient water conservation projects such as the manmade channels by the ancient Babylonians and Romans have been obsolete for ages.

Since ancient times, Minjiang River has surged downward from Mt. Minshan, thrusting itself into the Chengdu Plain. When reaching the flatlands, the river's speed slows down abruptly. The watercourse is filled with silt, making this area extremely vulnerable to flooding. People living on the Chengdu Plain consequently suffer a great deal from frequent floods.

Around 250 BC during the Warring States Period, Li Bing, a local governor, directed the construction of Dujiangyan together with his son. Instead of building a dam simply to catch the floodwaters, Li Bing employed a new method by channeling and dividing the water to harness the Minjiang River. He built a project called the Fish Mouth to split the Minjiang River into two main parts: the headwork of the outer river and the irrigation system of the inner river. Our tour guide Zhou Tingjun says the project effectively put the flooding waters under control.

"When Li Bing began to dig the inner Minjiang riverbed, he told workers to make it deeper and narrower than the outer Minjiang riverbed. So in low-water seasons, 60 percent of the mainstream water would naturally flow into the inner river, which is on lower ground. At the same time, 40 percent of the water would flow into the outer Minjiang River which eventually merges into the Yangtze River. This way, the lower Minjiang reaches won't suffer from drought during dry season."

During flood season, 60 percent of the water capacity in the entire Min River is diverted to the wider outer Minjiang River and join the Yangtze. The inner river carries 40 percent of the water capacity for irrigation.

For over two thousand years, the whole system has functioned perfectly. It's served not only for flood prevention, but also as an immense source for irrigation as well as a means to facilitate shipping and wood drifting. Ken Boyd, a tourist from the United States, is amazed by Dujiangyan.

"It was very interesting how it was built so many years ago, two thousand years ago. It's very fascinating how it controls the river and all sorts of big benefit for the people, and the land. In dry season or the wet season, it controls the river so it doesn't damage the cities. "

Thanks to Dujiangyan, the Chengdu Plain has earned its reputation as "The Land of Abundance".

All right, that concludes our trip to Mount Qingcheng and Dujiangyan. Now again it's question time. Question number one: Is Mount Qingcheng the birthplace of the Taoist religion? And question two: how old is Dujiangyan, the earliest irrigation system still operating in the world?

If you've listened to our program and know the answers to both of these questions, we invite you to send them in to the CRI general knowledge contest on Sichuan province sponsored by the Sichuan Provincial Tourism Administration. You can email us at crieng@crifm.com or yinglian@cri.com.cn, or log on to our website at www.crienglish.com. Good luck and see you next time!