Four projects in China are successfully inscribed on the World Heritage Irrigation Structures

Recently, at the 75th executive council meeting of the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage held in Sydney, Australia, exciting news came. Four projects in China, namely, the Karez in Turpan, Xinjiang, the ancient weirs in Huizhou (a joint application of the weirs and dams in Huizhou and the stone weirs in Wuyuan), the Fengyan terraced fields in Hanyin, Shaanxi, and the Jufeng Weir in Xiushan, Chongqing, were successfully selected into the 2024 (11th batch) list of World Heritage Irrigation Structures. So far, China has 38 World Heritage Irrigation Structures.

The karez is most concentrated in the Turpan area of Xinjiang. It has a history of at least 600 years. It is an ancient water conservancy project created by people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang to draw out shallow groundwater for irrigation to adapt to extremely arid and high evaporation conditions. There are more than 1,200 existing karez, with an annual runoff of 114 million cubic meters and a controlled irrigation area of nearly 100,000 mu. It still has significant benefits today. The weirs and dams in Huizhou and the stone weirs in Wuyuan are stone-built diversion weir and dam type water conservancy projects inherited from ancient Huizhou culture. There are more than 500 existing ancient weirs and dams in the whole Huizhou area, and there are many existing stone weirs in Wuyuan County. They are integrated with ancient villages and contain profound historical, cultural and aesthetic values. The Fengyan terraced fields in Hanyin are located in Hanyin County, one of the birthplaces of Han culture in southern Shaanxi Province. The irrigated area is about 52,000 mu. Its irrigation system of "fields, c***s, ponds and brooks" perfectly fits the sponge concept and a large number of stockaded villages and forts from the Qing Dynasty are preserved. The Jufeng Weir in Xiushan was built in the 32nd year of the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty. The irrigation engineering system is a dam diversion. It has the earliest existing stone aqueduct barrage dam with the largest scale in China and is still in use. It ensures "high-level irrigation for high water and low-level irrigation for low water" in the irrigated area and realizes the maximum irrigation benefit.

China is an ancient and large country of irrigation with a long irrigation history and rich types of projects. The World Heritage Irrigation Structures list was established in 2014 to sort out the development context of world irrigation civilization and promote the protection of irrigation engineering heritage. The selection of these four projects in China not only shows China's splendid farming civilization and irrigation wisdom, but also provides valuable experience for the protection of global irrigation engineering heritage and further promotes the exchange and development of world irrigation civilization.