Currently, some of them are still in use. There is a World Irrigation Engineering Heritage Village in Jinhua, Zhejiang Province, founded in 27 AD
On the afternoon of June 24th, the global premiere of China's first landscape cultural film "Baishaxi" was held in Shanghai, and at the same time, Jinhua Wucheng held a cultural and tourism promotion event in Shanghai.
The movie "Baisha Creek" has a total length of 52 minutes, showcasing the agricultural culture, water management culture, and intangible cultural heritage culture that thrive on both sides of the Baisha Creek through artistic lens. It fully demonstrates the deep practice of the concept of "green water and green mountains are as valuable as gold and silver" by the people of Wucheng, and the fruitful achievements made in "water management", "water protection", and "water revitalization". It comprehensively protects, utilizes, and promotes the world irrigation engineering heritage - Baisha Creek's Thirty Six Weirs, interpreting the code of happiness under the green water and green mountains from a humanistic perspective.
The main stream of this frost like snow water system is only 68.3 kilometers long, with dense tributaries, crisscrossing underground channels, and a water level difference of 168 meters. In the year 27 AD, Lu Wentai and Thirty Six Generals built "Gaoru Weir", also known as "Baisha Weir", at Gaoru, which was the first weir of the Thirty Six Weirs of Baisha River. Over the next few hundred years, Lu Wentai and his subordinates, along with the local people, inherited the practical experience of Baisha Dam and built dams for water diversion and irrigation. They completed the construction of a total of 36 dams spanning 45 kilometers from Shafan Dam to Zhongji Dam in Baisha Creek. It is an ancient cascade dam group that mainly focuses on water diversion and irrigation, and also has multiple functions such as flood prevention, water storage, and hydraulic processing, irrigating tens of thousands of hectares of fertile land on both sides of Baisha Creek. Although accompanied by changes such as river diversion, relocation of ancient villages, and irrigation improvement, the ancient weir, with its scientific and advanced design and construction, has pioneered the world's history of water conservancy engineering with "water control and folk weir construction". In December 2020, Baishaxi 36 weir was selected as a World Irrigation Engineering Heritage Site.
After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, Shafan Reservoir and Jinlan Reservoir were built on the Baisha River, and some ancient weirs were permanently left underwater. However, there are still 21 ancient weirs that continue to play a role in water diversion and irrigation, and the water supply guarantee rate has been further improved. The reservoir, weir, and canal form an irrigation system of Baisha Creek, with an irrigation area of 278000 acres. In recent years, Wucheng District has successively promoted projects such as "Five Waters Co governance" and "Ecological Corridor", actively carried out cultural and tourism planning along the 36th Weir of Baisha River, carried out public infrastructure construction, and revitalized rural revitalization projects on both sides.
Xinchangqiao Village was born and prospered due to water, and the three ancient weirs of "Thirty Six Weirs" - "Dongshan Weir", "Hanlong Weir", and "Matan Weir" - are all located here, making this ancient village with a history of over 600 years a shining pearl by the stream. "In earlier years, the water surface was a 'paradise' for water hyacinths, and there were piles of floating and smelly garbage that pedestrians avoided." The relevant person in charge of Xinchangqiao Village said that in order to give the village a new look, local officials took the lead in salvaging garbage from the river and conducting a comprehensive investigation and cleaning of the garbage and floating debris on the water surface. Subsequently, a series of projects such as "Five Waters Co governance" and "Zhejiang Central Ecological Corridor" were implemented. The river was clean, and the villagers along the banks no longer looked sad, becoming a poetic landscape attraction. It is a microcosm of the local implementation of the "Ten Million Project". Wucheng has been awarded the title of the province's "Ten Million Project" for three consecutive years to build a new era of beautiful countryside as an excellent county. ". In addition, the "Ten Million Project" is effectively linked to rural revitalization and common prosperity. Yantou Village in Andi Town, also known for its water resources, is constantly emerging with various businesses such as homestays and farmhouses, truly transforming "beautiful scenery" into "beautiful economy.". In 2022, the entire village received over 100000 tourists and the collective income of the village was nearly 2 million yuan, which is double compared to 2021.
