Lanzhou Yellow River Large Waterwheel Making Technique

The great Yellow River waterwheel of Lanzhou is said to have been adapted by the Ming-era Lanzhou native Duan Xu from the bucket wheels he saw in the south, lifting river water to irrigate the fields; from the Ming and Qing hundreds of wheels stood along both banks, earning Lanzhou the byname of "city of waterwheels." The making technique entered the first national ICH list in 2006 under number Ⅷ-48.

Built chiefly of wood, the wheel demands selecting timber, working the great axle, fitting spokes, framing the buckets, mounting the scoops and raising it on site across many steps; a single wheel may exceed ten metres in diameter, its every dimension and angle carried in the carpenter's experience, lifting water into the canal by the river's own current, a craft at once rough-hewn and ingenious.

The great Yellow River waterwheel of Lanzhou is the fruit of agrarian civilisation and hydraulic wisdom in the upper Yellow River, carrying the historical memory of a Golden City that lived and died by the river, and standing as one of the most iconic physical carriers of Lanzhou's river culture.

The Lanzhou Waterwheel Expo Park gathers several great wheels and houses a making-technique heritage base where one may see and learn the craft.