Located at the junction of Zhidan Road and Yanchang West Road stands a testament to ancient ingenuity the Zhidan Yuan Sluice Site. Have you ever wondered how a city manages its waterways? Today we’re going to explore the remarkable story of the Zhidan Yuan Sluice Site. It’s one of China’s best-preserved ancient water conservancy projects.
Imagine Shanghai during the Yuan Dynasty. The Wusong River, now known as the Suzhou Creek, was vital. It was also prone to silting and flooding. This threatened the economic heart of the Yangtze River Delta.
The Yuan Dynasty Sluice Site at Zhidanyuan was discovered in May 2001. Construction workers were piling the base for a residential building. Their drill bit kept hitting something solid about seven meters underground.
They customized a high-strength diamond drill. After three days they brought up slate and wood fragments. It was the first large-scale excavation site in Shanghai. It was the first major archaeological project invested in Shanghai’s history.
Archaeologists soon realized they had found something special. It was a large stone hydraulic structure, carefully designed. The Zhidan Yuan Sluice Site covers 1300 square meters. It lies seven meters beneath the surface.
The sluice features a bluestone gate at its center. The gate’s inner width measures 6.8 meters. The overflow stone at the bottom stretches 32 meters long. The widest part is 30 meters. Rectangular bluestone slabs pave the surface. Each slab is 1 to 1.35 meters long and 0.6 to 0.8 meters wide. Iron ingot tenons shaped like Yuan Dynasty silver ingots reinforce the joints. Stone wall revetments stand on the north and south sides. They are 2.1 meters high and 60 cm wide. They stretch for 47 meters.
Ren Renfa designed the sluice. Ren Renfa was a water conservancy expert born in Qinglong Town now Baihe Town. He dedicated his life to water management. He repaired seawalls, dredged rivers, and managed sluices. Besides his engineering skills Ren Renfa was also a celebrated artist. He painted horses. His painting of two horses is displayed in the Palace Museum.
The sluice played a vital role in controlling the Wusong River. Ren Renfa recorded the purpose of the stone sluice. The sluice gates were opened and closed to control muddy tides. The aim was to keep clear water flowing to the sea. This stopped the river from silting.
The discovery of the Zhidan Yuan Sluice Site has great importance. It helps us understand water conservancy in the Jiangnan area during the Song and Yuan Dynasties. It also sheds light on the Wusong River’s historical changes. The Zhidanyuan Yuan Dynasty Sluice Site was selected as one of the top ten archaeological discoveries in China in 2006. In 2013, it became a national key cultural relics protection unit.
The Shanghai Yuan Dynasty Sluice Site Museum opened on December 31, 2012. The museum protects, researches, and displays the sluice site. It is Shanghai’s first heritage museum. It showcases the sluice’s discovery, history, construction, structure, and function. The museum is now a patriotism education base. It’s also a youth archaeology base.
The sluice stands as a reminder of the past. It shows us the importance of managing water resources. The Zhidanyuan sluice site is a landmark in Chinese water conservancy engineering. The builders recorded their experiences in the Water Conservancy Collection. We can now combine this literature with the archaeological discoveries at the Zhidan Yuan Sluice Site. This allows us to fully understand the sluice’s construction process. Only when water is well managed can cities develop better.