Fish Mouth
Splits the river.
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One of the world's oldest irrigation works still in use, built around 256 BC by the state of Qin on the Min River, a tributary of the Yangtze, where the Chengdu Plain meets the mountains; it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000. The river used to rush down from the mountains and flood the plain with silt, so engineers led by the governor Li Bing devised a unique way to split and channel its water instead of damming it, turning the Chengdu Plain into some of China's most fertile land, which the system still waters today. Visitors walk paths and suspension bridges over the rushing water and see the «Fish Mouth» levee that divides the river in two and the channel cut through the rock, with gardens and old pavilions on the neighbouring hillsides. Tickets are about CNY 80, open 08:00–18:00, until 17:30 in winter, per visitor guides. The high-speed train from Chengdu to Dujiangyan takes about half an hour, so allow half a day or a full day.
Splits the river.
Over the water.
Cut in ancient times.
Dujiangyan City, about 60 km northwest of Chengdu
It was built around 256 BC and still works today; tickets are about CNY 80, per visitor guides.