Erlu Park

Erlu Park

Erlu Park is a national AA-level tourist attraction.

At the confluence of the Xin Kai River and the North Canal, there is a water gate shaped like a human ear, hence nicknamed "Erlu" (Ear Gate). Built to divert floods and facilitate navigation along the Haihe River, it is the earliest hydraulic structure in Tianjin’s urban area. Constructed in 1919 with a steel-concrete structure, the facility consists of a control gate and a lock. The control gate spans 79.35 meters, with 14 gates, while the lock is 130 meters long. Its chambers are flanked by red brick walls, resembling a small reservoir. Erlu is one of the 24 cultural heritage sites identified by the Tianjin Cultural Relics Bureau involved in the comprehensive renovation along the Haihe River.

As early as the 19th year of the Guangxu reign during the Qing Dynasty (1893), a "flood-reducing dam was built at the mouth of the Xin Kai River in Tianjin County," using "cement (known as 'Seymond soil') for grouting and sealing." Clearly, this was a structure combining Chinese and Western technologies. The Western-style sluice gate reconstructed in February 1919 featured more advanced technology, with each bay being 3 meters wide. The upper part of the gate had a wooden gantry frame and two manual winches used to lift and lower the wooden flat gates between piers. The sill elevation was 6 meters (Tianjin Datum, equivalent to sea level), and the river channel at the outlet was slightly dredged, increasing the flood discharge capacity from the original 35 m³/s to 220 m³/s. The piers were largely built with stone, and the protective walls on both sides of the inlet and outlet were also constructed of stone, reducing the threat of North Canal floodwaters to the downstream piers during flood season, and providing an outlet for flood discharge in the plains west of the North Canal during the summer flood period. The Haihe River remained unscathed during the major floods in Tianjin in 1921 and 1924, thanks in large part to the effectiveness of this hydraulic project.

In those days, several European-style blue-brick houses stood on the open space by the riverbank next to the Erlu Gate. These housed the old Ship Tax Bureau, surrounded by tall locust trees arranged in an orderly fashion. The area was sparsely populated, quiet, and surrounded by water on three sides, resembling a villa. At the river mouth, there was a small triangular sandbar formed by silt deposition, with fertile soil—some people grew vegetables there or came to fish.

Phone: 26351591