Four more Chinese irrigation projects listed as world heritage structures

Four more ancient Chinese irrigation sites have been recognized as World Heritage Irrigation Structures (WHIS), according to the Ministry of Water Resources.

The Turpan Karez Wells, the Huizhou Weirs and Wuyuan Weirs, the Fengyan Terraces and the Jufeng Weirs were granted the status at the 75th executive council meeting of the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID) in Sydney, Australia on September 2. Among them, Huizhou Weirs and Wuyuan Weirs applied jointly.

This brings the total number of WHIS in China to 38. So far, China has become the country with the most diverse and widespread WHIS types with the most outstanding irrigation benefits.

The Karez wells, mostly located in Turpan, Xinjiang, are a historic and unique irrigation system in China. Consisting of a combination of vertical wells, underground canals, surface canals, and small reservoirs, it channels water from melted glaciers in the Tianshan Mountains to the lower lands of the Turpan Basin for daily life and irrigation needs. Currently, more than 1,200 Karez wells are still in use, benefiting over 6,600 hectares of arable land.

The weirs popular in the Huizhou District of Huangshan City, Anhui Province and Wuyuan County, Jiangxi Province are water division projects built with stacked stones. The oldest weir on the Xin'an River in Anhui is said to have a history of nearly 1,700 years. Blending perfectly with the surrounding ancient villages, these ancient irrigation sites have profound historical, cultural, and aesthetic values.

Located in Hanyin County in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, the Fengyan Terraces are distributed in a vertical space spanning more than 1,000 meters. The terraced fields not only guarantee irrigation for the farmland, but also help conserve water resources in the mountains.

Built in 1767, Jufeng Weirs is the oldest existing and best preserved water irrigation project in Xiushan County, Chongqing that is still in operation. Consisting of three dams, it covers an irrigation area of more than 1,000 hectares.