Dujiangyan Water-Releasing Festival

The Dujiangyan Water-Releasing Festival, also called the Qingming Water-Releasing Festival, arose to honor the Warring States governor Li Bing and his son, who built the Dujiangyan irrigation works that blessed the western Sichuan plain. After the yearly maintenance, an "opening of the waters" was held at Qingming, cutting away the bamboo-and-log weir to let the Min River flow into the inner canals, a tradition sustained for a thousand years.

Held at Qingming around Dujiangyan, the rite includes offerings to Li Bing, the reading of a memorial text, the cutting of the weir, and the release of the waters. At a command, workers sever the bamboo ropes binding the log weir, which topples as the river surges into the canals, a spectacular scene voicing wishes for sound waterworks and a good harvest.

The festival fuses the yearly upkeep of an irrigation system with folk belief and sacrificial ritual, a living expression of Dujiangyan's water culture; it entered the first national intangible-heritage list in 2006 and is still held every year.

The festival takes place each Qingming around the Dujiangyan waterworks, bound to the Dujiangyan scenic area, a singular occasion for sensing ancient Shu water culture and seasonal folk custom.