The Mahu Henghe Water Conservancy and Navigation Facilities

The Mahu Henghe Water Conservancy and Navigation Facilities

The Mahu Henghe Water Conservancy and Navigation Facilities is a Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Mahu Henghe refers to the Yuyao section of the Yuyu Canal, which was extensively renovated and reconstructed during the Song Dynasty. It originates from Changba in Moushan in the west, flows through Hutang River and Mahu Zhonghe, passes under Caoshi Bridge, and empties into the Yao River. In the 1980s, it served as Line A of the Hangzhou–Ningbo Canal.

Records of facilities such as flashboards and sluice dams at the flashboards (doumen) date back to the Southern Song Dynasty. In 1952, the Doumen Aiguo Zengchan Sluice was built on the foundation of the original sluice, and a manual tow dam was constructed on the south side of the sluice. Around 1969, a box-type ship lock was built on the north side of the water-dividing pier. During the 1983 canal renovation, the river channel was straightened, the old Doumen Sluice was decommissioned, and new ship lifts were built at both ends of Zhonghe — the Xihenghe Ship Lift and the Doumen Ship Lift. In 1986, to support the East Drainage Project, the Xihenghe Sluice was rebuilt, and the Doumen Sluice was newly constructed.

The old Doumen Sluice, the new Doumen Sluice, the ship lift, the Xihenghe Sluice, and the Xihenghe Ship Lift are spatially aligned from north to south, serving navigation and regulation functions. They are one of the key hubs connecting the Yao River and the Cao’e River. Over time, they reflect the technological evolution of water conservancy and navigation facilities along this section of the canal since the Song and Yuan Dynasties, offering a glimpse into the development and transformation of the canal. In January 2011, they were designated as part of the sixth batch of Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units.

1. The Old Doumen Sluice

The Old Doumen Sluice has existed since ancient times and is mentioned in the "Jiatai Annals of the Southern Song Dynasty." During the Ming Dynasty's Jiajing era, the Doumen Weir was built but later abandoned. It was rebuilt in the second year of the Qing Dynasty’s Tongzhi reign. In 1952, the Aiguo Zengchan Sluice was reconstructed on the site of the original sluice, with a manual tow dam built on its south side. In 1969, a box-type ship lock was built on the north side of the sluice, and originally there was a management office between the sluice and the ship lock.

The sluice is located on Mahu Zhonghe in Doumen Village, Mahu Town, Yuyao City. It runs generally from north to south, with the river channel curving and narrowing on the west side, while the east side opens up into a wide pool. The sluice is made of reinforced concrete, approximately 10 meters long, with three bays, each about 3 meters wide. When the sluice gates are closed, the water level difference between upstream and downstream reaches 0.5 meters, with a discharge capacity of 60 m³/s. The sluice has two piers, each with a pointed cutwater at the ends. On the east side of the sluice, there is a sluice bridge, with inscribed plaques on the railings on both sides reading "Aiguo Zengchan Sluice" and "Completed on July 15, 1952." On the west side of the sluice, there is a sluice corridor with cement guardrails on the outside, serving as an inspection passage. On the north bank, there are stairs leading to the top of the sluice. Originally, the top had a roof covering and housed mechanical equipment, which is no longer present.

The manual tow dam is situated right next to the south side of the sluice, connecting to the riverbank, and is trapezoidal in shape. Its top is level with the sluice bridge, with a total length of 16 meters and a width of 6 meters (approximately 2 meters of the southern end have now been converted into a cement road). The tow dam is paved with smooth stone slabs laid in a staggered pattern. Many of the slabs are Qing Dynasty tombstones. On the north side of the sluice, the water-dividing pier originally had a management office, which is now covered by residential houses and a tofu workshop, with its original appearance unknown. Further north is a box-type ship lock. The lock chamber is 35 meters long and 15 meters wide, with walls built from long stone blocks. There are sluice gates on the east and west sides. Originally, they were swing-style wooden gates, but these have been abandoned and sealed off. Due to later abandonment and modifications, the east gate opening has been reduced, and a flat cement footbridge has been built over it. The outer railing is inscribed with “Victory of the Ninth Congress Bridge,” while the inner railing is inscribed with “Doumen Ship Lock” and “Completed on April 24, 1969.”

2. The New Doumen Sluice and Ship Lift

The New Doumen Sluice and Ship Lift are located on the south side of Mahu Zhonghe in Doumen Village, Mahu Town, Yuyao City. They cross Mahu Zhonghe from east to west, and consist mainly of a ship lift and a sluice, accompanied by a management office and ancillary bridge facilities. The overall area occupied by the river is approximately 16,000 square meters.

The ship lift was completed in March 1983. It is 120 meters long with a waterway 6.5 meters wide. The track beams extend 118 meters in total (50 meters upstream and 58 meters downstream), with a longitudinal slope of 1:10. They are laid with 50KG/M heavy rails, with an upstream gauge of 3 meters and a downstream gauge of 4.3 meters. The ship lift carriage is 10 meters long, 5.5 meters wide, and weighs a total of 17.2 tons. The ship lift uses a high-low wheel inclined plane transport system with electronic automatic control and inertial topping. The front and rear wheel gauge is 7.2 meters, the height difference between high and low wheels is 0.72 meters, and the steel wheel diameter is 0.6 meters. The drive system operates at an average speed of 33.6 meters per minute, with a crossing time of 2.5–3 minutes, and a maximum load capacity of 40 tons. The east side of the ship lift is the management area. The electrical control room is adjacent to the east side of the ship lift, covering 86.4 square meters. Two additional buildings serve as staff dormitories, totaling 316.8 square meters.

The sluice was completed in October 1987. It is a reinforced concrete open-type vertical lift gate structure. It is 45 meters wide and 13 meters high, with steel staircases on both sides. The average drainage capacity is 130 m³/s. The sluice has three bays, each with a clear width of 7.0 meters and a height of 3.8 meters. It uses a reinforced concrete separate flat bottom slab. The piers are cast-in-place solid concrete, with side piers 1.0 meter thick and middle piers 1.3 meters thick, and a downstream length of 9.0 meters. The sluice gates are reinforced concrete flat gates, assembled from beam plates, using pressure-bearing wooden sliders, ceramic tile sliders, and P-type rubber water stops. The hoists are placed outdoors on the working bridge and consist of three double-drum winch hoists, equipped with a 30KVA transformer. The west side of the sluice houses the water conservancy management office, consisting of two connected buildings.

A narrow water-dividing pier is built between the ship lift and the sluice, stretching about 250 meters from north to south, constructed with dry-laid stone blocks and covered with vegetation. At the northernmost end is the Daijia Bridge, oriented northeast to southwest. It is a concrete beam bridge, 70 meters long, divided into eastern and western sections. The eastern section is for ships entering the Doumen Ship Lift, and the western section directs water flow into the Doumen Sluice.

3. The Xihenghe Sluice and Ship Lift

The Xihenghe Sluice and Ship Lift are located at the western end of Mahu Zhonghe in Xihenghe Village, Mahu Town, Yuyao City. They cross Mahu Zhonghe from north to south and connect to the west with Hutang River and Jiangjialong River. The structure mainly consists of a ship lift and a sluice, along with a management office and ancillary bridge facilities. The overall area occupied by the river is approximately 10,000 square meters.

The ship lift was rebuilt in June 1983. It is 120 meters long with a waterway 6.5 meters wide. The track beams extend 135.8 meters in total (65.4 meters upstream and 70.4 meters downstream), with a longitudinal slope of 1:10. They are laid with 50KG/M heavy rails, with an upstream gauge of 4.3 meters and a downstream gauge of 3.0 meters. The ship lift carriage is 11 meters long, 5.5 meters wide, 1.38 meters high, and weighs a total of 20 tons. The elastic supports on the carriage use old car tires with a diameter of 90 cm, arranged vertically and horizontally, each fixed individually. The ship lift uses a high-low wheel inclined plane transport system with electronic automatic control and inertial topping. The front and rear wheel gauge is 7.2 meters, and the steel wheel diameter is 0.6 meters. The drive system operates at an average speed of 33.6 meters per minute, with a maximum rope winding capacity of 87 meters, a crossing time of 3–3.5 minutes, and a maximum load capacity of 40 tons.

The sluice was completed in June 1987. It is a reinforced concrete open-type vertical lift gate structure. It is 34.6 meters wide and 13.6 meters high, with an average drainage capacity of 130 m³/s. The sluice has three bays, each with a clear width of 7.0 meters and a height of 4.2 meters. It uses a reinforced concrete separate flat bottom slab. Except for the right bay, which is a single unit, the other two bays have their small bottom slabs separated from the pier foundations. The thickness of the bottom slabs ranges from 0.4 to 0.8 meters, with a top elevation of 0.5 meters. The sluice gates are reinforced concrete flat gates, assembled from four beam plates, with an external size of 7.64×4.2 meters (square meters) and a weight of 21 tons. They use pressure-bearing wooden sliders, ceramic tile sliders, and P-type rubber water stops. The working bridge atop the sluice is a cast-in-place Π-shaped beam slab, with a lower edge in an arc shape. The hoist room is built on the working bridge, 4.15 meters high, housing three double-drum winch hoists, equipped with a 50KVA transformer. The control room is located on both sides of the sluice chamber, octagonal in shape, three stories high, totaling 13.6 meters, slightly taller than the hoist room in elevation, and styled like bridge turrets. The piers are cast-in-place solid concrete. The middle pier has a semicircular upstream end and a fishtail-shaped downstream end, is 10 meters long in the downstream direction, 1.3 meters thick, and 4.7 meters high, with a spare gate slot. A pedestrian footbridge is built on the middle pier, 3.2 meters wide, with the mid-span beam bottom at an elevation of 7.5 meters and a clearance height of 3.5–4.0 meters. The bridge plaque reads “Xihenghe Sluice.”

A narrow water-dividing pier is built between the ship lift and the sluice, stretching about 200 meters from east to west. At the center is the transportation and navigation management office, with a construction area of 89.7 square meters, now all abandoned. At the westernmost end is a farm tractor bridge over the river, oriented north to south. It is a concrete beam bridge, 60 meters long, divided into southern and northern sections. The southern section allows ships to enter the ship lift, and the northern section directs water into the sluice.

Source: Yuyao Cultural Relics Protection Office

Further Reading:

· Sixth Batch of Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units