Dujiangyan Water-Release Festival

The Water-Release Festival originated after Li Bing, Governor of Shu Commandery in the Qin dynasty, completed the Dujiangyan irrigation system. Each year around the Qingming festival, officials and people held rites honouring Li Bing and ceremonially broke the winter dam to release water to the fields. This practice has continued for over two thousand years.

The modern festival includes offerings to Governor Li Bing, a re-enacted ancient dam-opening ceremony on the Min River, riverside song-and-dance performances and folk displays, drawing tens of thousands of participants.

The Water-Release Festival is a concentrated expression of Dujiangyan's hydraulic civilisation and folk belief, an important component of China's water-culture heritage that illuminates ancient governance through irrigation.