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Tuo Shan Yan Dam and City Ningbo: Exploring the Historical Logic of Urban Water Management through a Big City of China



Author(s)

Xiao Yun Zheng and Shen Ji Min

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DOI:10.17265/2159-581X/2017.03.002

Tuo Shan Yan Dam is a small dam which was built above Yinjiang River at the Yinjiang Town, Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province of China in 833 AD, but it is greatly contributed to Ningbo City, a current big port city of China. The dam and the matched system had become a key hydro-infrastructure to the city’s existence and development, and irrigation of the countryside nearby the city from ninth century up to 1987, a big dam was built at upper reach to control water of the river. Tuo Shan Yan Dam functioned an important role in the local water management and met a series of purposes perfectly, mainly as: (a) regulation of the river water; (b) save the flood; (c) stop the salinization; (d) urban water supply; (e) storage of flesh water; (f) irrigation; (g) ship transportation. And it is a miracle that it has been functioned for more than one thousand years. This dam also influenced the local social life and people’s spiritual world simultaneously. The construction of the dam and its matched hydro-system is in line with the Chinese ancient logic of urban water management to manage river to meet a multi-proposes of urban development by a key project and a systemic engineering design. It is an important case for better understanding of ancient Chinese urban water management and to learn from the history for current water sustainability. Accordingly, the dam’s design, construction and its influence on the local societies are studied in this article.

Tuo Shan Yan Dam, construction, historical logic water management, urban development, Ningbo City, China