One of most famous irrigation system is The Dujiang Dam or Dujiangyan irrigation system which located in China. With good maintance it benefit Chinese over 2200 years.
In China, Chengdu is always praised as the Tian Fu Zhi Guo, which means 'Nature's Storehouse'. Over 2,200 years ago, the city was threatened by the frequent floods caused by flooding of the Minjiang River (a tributary of the Yangtze River). Li Bing, a local official of Sichuan Province at that time, together with his son, decided to construct an irrigation system on the Minjiang River to prevent flooding. After a lengthy study and a lot of hard work by the local people, the great Dujiangyan Irrigation System was completed. Since then, the Chengdu Plain has been free of flooding and the people have been living peacefully and affluently.
Leshan Giant Buddha is also the byproduct of human wrestling with river around 1200 year ago。To tame the river ， human take sandstone from the mountain，and create the giant Buddha 。
Somehow none of the formatting and videos made it to the newsletter. I just edited again everything so it shows properly. It might have been due to an oversight since I spent a day in the hospital this week.
Thank you for sharing this! This has been a pet interest of mine since I lived in New Orleans a few years back and became obsessed with the Old River Control Structure on the Mississippi. It makes me wonder about sustainability - not in the sense that Green Party types use the word, but in wondering to what degree over what length of time something can be maintained. In the super-long term such a widget will always be overpowered by nature’s force. But I do wonder if any major infrastructure like this on rivers was constructed in the ancient world / whether any projects have survived even partially.
Fascinating. I especially like the radiograph visuals. They show both the floodplain and the oxbow lakes.
Regarding man's interventions of rivers, the Euphrates, which ran right through the center of Babylon, was diverted by Darius so that his troops could sneak right under the wall and into the city for a surprise nighttime attack. That's how Babylon, which was thought to be impregnable, was conquered in one night.
This just blows my mind. How have I not heard of this before?
Thank you for what you do. This is spectacular.
This is one of my favorite things: finding some pattern that drives a lot of our world but we barely realize!
Same here. We just look in different places. :-D
Terrific essay. Thank you.
I am teaching Heidegger's essay on technology this semester, and will cite your passage on the Rhine.
What’s the connection?
One of most famous irrigation system is The Dujiang Dam or Dujiangyan irrigation system which located in China. With good maintance it benefit Chinese over 2200 years.
https://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/sichuan/chengdu/dujiangyan.htm
In China, Chengdu is always praised as the Tian Fu Zhi Guo, which means 'Nature's Storehouse'. Over 2,200 years ago, the city was threatened by the frequent floods caused by flooding of the Minjiang River (a tributary of the Yangtze River). Li Bing, a local official of Sichuan Province at that time, together with his son, decided to construct an irrigation system on the Minjiang River to prevent flooding. After a lengthy study and a lot of hard work by the local people, the great Dujiangyan Irrigation System was completed. Since then, the Chengdu Plain has been free of flooding and the people have been living peacefully and affluently.
2nd time this week that I get my attention drawn to Sichuan. I will need to study it better at some point!
Leshan Giant Buddha is also the byproduct of human wrestling with river around 1200 year ago。To tame the river ， human take sandstone from the mountain，and create the giant Buddha 。
Amazing piece. Thanks for sharing. There’s one piece of media in there that still has a placeholder, in the section about wetlands and vegetation
Thanks for letting me know! Everything is now corrected. Please look at it and LMK what you think!
One? Three of them. Search the page for "INSERT VIDEO".
Corrected thanks!
Somehow none of the formatting and videos made it to the newsletter. I just edited again everything so it shows properly. It might have been due to an oversight since I spent a day in the hospital this week.
Did you? Sorry to hear, hope you're ok
You should take a look at the lower Mississippi, specifically the Old River Control structure.
Thank you for sharing this! This has been a pet interest of mine since I lived in New Orleans a few years back and became obsessed with the Old River Control Structure on the Mississippi. It makes me wonder about sustainability - not in the sense that Green Party types use the word, but in wondering to what degree over what length of time something can be maintained. In the super-long term such a widget will always be overpowered by nature’s force. But I do wonder if any major infrastructure like this on rivers was constructed in the ancient world / whether any projects have survived even partially.
Fascinating. I especially like the radiograph visuals. They show both the floodplain and the oxbow lakes.
Regarding man's interventions of rivers, the Euphrates, which ran right through the center of Babylon, was diverted by Darius so that his troops could sneak right under the wall and into the city for a surprise nighttime attack. That's how Babylon, which was thought to be impregnable, was conquered in one night.