Lidui-Park

Lidui Park is the city-side entrance to the Dujiangyan Irrigation System, and for most visitors it is the gateway through which they begin their walk through the UNESCO World Heritage site. Tucked into the eastern edge of the scenic area, just where the old city meets the banks of the river, the park combines a pleasant green space with several of the most important historical monuments of the Irrigation System itself, and it rewards a slow visit before the longer walk out along the river.

The park takes its name from Lidui, the small isolated mound that rises at its center, reached by a short flight of forty-two stone steps. Lidui is not a natural hill but the section of Mt. Yulei that was cut off from the main mass of the mountain when Li Bing and his engineers carved the Baopingkou, the Bottle-Neck Channel, more than two thousand years ago. Standing on top of the mound, it is possible to look down directly into the narrow channel and the rushing water that feeds the irrigation network of the Chengdu plain, and to grasp, in a single view, the scale of what was carved out of the mountainside by hand.

Within the park stand two of the most important cultural monuments of the Dujiangyan site. Fulong Temple, perched on top of Lidui itself, is a small traditional temple dedicated to Li Bing and to the dragon-spirit of the river, with dark wooden halls, old stone steles, and a quiet courtyard shaded by ancient trees. The Dujiangyan Museum, also inside the park, traces the history of the irrigation system, the engineering principles behind its design, and the long cycle of maintenance and renewal that has kept it in continuous use since the third century BCE.

Because Lidui Park is the main entrance to the Irrigation System, almost every visitor passes through it, but it is worth more than a quick walk to the ticket gate. Arrive early, before the tour groups, to enjoy the temple and the museum in relative quiet, and to look down at the Baopingkou channel before continuing out across the river to Yuzui and the rest of the works. The park also connects directly to the South Bridge and the Guanxian Ancient City area, which makes it easy to fold into the wider walking route around the site.