Tongji Weir

Tongji Weir

Tongji Weir is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit and a patriotic education base.

Guide: Tongji Weir is a water conservancy project primarily designed for irrigation and also capable of water storage and discharge. It consists of a water-retaining dam, inlet sluices, the Three-Arch Bridge, channels, and leaf-shaped outlets. The Bihu Plain has a terrain that slopes from southwest to northeast with a drop of 20 meters. Tongji Weir was constructed based on this geographical feature, thereby achieving largely gravity-fed irrigation without the need for external assistance. The upstream catchment area of Tongji Weir covers 2,150 square kilometers, intercepting over 200,000 cubic meters of water into the weir channels daily, irrigating more than 40,000 mu of farmland in the central and southern parts of the Bihu Plain. According to villagers, the Zhuge family, a lineage of weir protectors who have lived by Tongji Weir for generations, would step in to stop any destructive behavior such as blocking channels or cutting trees. During maintenance work in the 1950s, massive ancient pine foundations were discovered at the bottom of the dam—known as the “sleeping ox” method of pine timber bedding.

: Tongji Weir is located near a small village called “Yantou” in the Bihu Plain in southern Zhejiang. Built in the fourth year of the Tianjian era during the Liang Dynasty of the Southern Dynasties (505 AD), it has a history of 1,500 years. It is the oldest large-scale water conservancy project in China and also the earliest known arch dam in the world, recognized as a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

History: The name “Tongji Weir” dates back to the eighth year of the Shaoxing era in the Southern Song Dynasty (1138 AD). According to Shen Guochen’s *Tongji Weir*: “After the Southern Crossing, Zhao Xuelao from Wenshang, who was appointed to govern the county, greatly admired the weir’s extensive benefits to the people and bestowed upon it the name ‘Tongji’ to praise it…”. Historical records indicate that Fan Chengda (Song Dynasty) served in various positions in Chuzhou between 1126 and 1193. In the fourth year of the Qiandao era of the Southern Song Dynasty (1168 AD), Fan Chengda oversaw the renovation of Tongji Weir and personally formulated and wrote the Weir Regulations, which were inscribed on a stele. “The text is concise and the calligraphy rivals that of Su Dongpo and Huang Tingjian,” with the original handwriting still preserved. He spent three months repairing the weir and authored the *Tongji Weir Stele* with twenty articles and fourteen lines of commentary to inform future generations. These *Weir Regulations* have been in use for hundreds of years.

Address: Beside Yantou Village, Bihu Town, Duilian District, Lishui City

Type: Historic Water Conservancy Project

Recommended Visiting Time: 1–2 hours

Opening Hours:

Open all day

Ticket Information:

No admission fee.

Further Reading:

· World Heritage Irrigation Structure

· Fifth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units