A little over six miles from the cave, down on the
fl oodplains of Dujiangyan, another monumental
experiment was underway in ancient times.
In 256BC, at roughly the same time that Archimedes
was crying ‘eureka’ a er displacing water in his bath,
the governor of Chengdu embarked on a massive hydro-
engineering project that’s still in use today.
Jack Feng patiently explains the complexities of
the Dujiangyan Irrigation System (a UNESCO World
Heritage Site), while we look upon it from the fl anks
of Mount Yulei. “Governor Li Bing needed to control
the Minjiang River which fl ooded regularly,” he says,
pointing out the broad, fast-fl owing waterway, heavy
with grey sediment. “So he used tens of thousands
of people to build a levee. Then he dug this new river
alongside it.”
From our vantage point we can see Li Bing’s man-
made river splitting from the natural channel to fl ow
through the ancient centre of Dujiangyan. It was
shaped to naturally purge itself of excess silt and as a
consequence, the water is the colour of jade. Adding to
the celestial vista of mountains and rivers are ornate
bridges and the spectacular Dragon-Taming Temple.
The whole engineering project took four years and
meant removing part of the mountain. Today, Chinese
visitors walk a three-mile circuit around the site to
marvel at the ancient feat.
Not only was the dragon tamed, the fl oodwaters were
diverted for irrigation, turning Sichuan into the mostfertile and richest of China’s 31 provinces. Today, it’s
still a veritable food basket that wants for nothing, and
the people of Sichuan are still caricatured as indulgent
sloths, happiest only when eating themselves silly.
Personally, I don’t blame them for indulging; Sichuan
cuisine is spicy, rich and oily. In the small noodle shops
along the ancient streets of Dujiangyan, the plates come
in small blizzards. Similarly unrelenting is the variety of
ingredients. On my visit, I encounter braised bullfrog,
stewed yak, sliced pig ear, hot and sour jellyfi sh, deep-
fried scorpions...
At the Cerelia farm alongside the Minjiang River,
I’m introduced to another oddity of Chinese cuisine:
an ugly, triangle-headed, armour-plated monster that
grows to over 6 in length. Cerelia has 10,000 sturgeon
in a vast grid of concrete troughs. The largest of the fi sh
put their shovel-sized faces out of the water.
O¤ ce director Mrs Yu tells me the bigger fi sh are
fattened up to provide caviar, which is exported to Dubai.
The smaller ones are culled for their prize fl esh. When I
admit I never knew sturgeon was a delicacy, I’m whisked
o¥ to the family restaurant, where I’m treated to an
impromptu banquet of sturgeon done not once but seven
ways. It’s so good that the caviar is almost a sideshow.PEOPLE OF THE MOUNTAINS
“What are you doing here?!” asks an English-speaking
Chinese woman. “Even most Chinese don’t know this
place exists!”I encounter braised bullfrog, stewed yak, sliced pig
ear, hot and sour jellyfi sh, deep-fried scorpions...
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Bridge, Dujiangyan
FROM LEFT: Prayer
ribbons adorn carvings
of deities in a temple in a
traditional Qiang home;
Qiang villager
November 2016 123CHINA