Fushou Ditch

Fushou Ditch

Fushou Ditch is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Fushou Ditch is a large-scale ancient brick-and-stone underground drainage system beneath the ancient city of Ganzhou. Utilizing the natural terrain gradient, it connects to the city’s ponds and waterways to store floodwater before channeling it to sluice gates in the city walls. These one-way sluice gates block floods from the Gan River and discharge excess water back into the river once the flooding recedes.

The creation of Fushou Ditch should predate the Xining era of the Northern Song Dynasty. According to the Jiajing-era *Ganzhou Prefecture Records, Volume 5: Establishments*, “During the Xining reign of the Song Dynasty, Prefect Liu Yi planned to install sluice gates,” indicating that Fushou Ditch already existed at that time. It has undergone maintenance and renovations over successive dynasties. The most recent major renovation took place from 1953 to 1963, spanning ten years. This restoration used tens of thousands of inscribed bricks from the Song to Qing dynasties, originally part of the Ganzhou city walls.

Having been in use for a thousand years, Fushou Ditch is a typical living cultural relic. It remains a key component of the old city’s drainage system, ensuring the ancient city of Ganzhou “stays flood-free even during heavy rain.” The original ditch system totaled no less than 12.6 kilometers, with at least 1.9 kilometers still retaining their ancient structure and materials.

The currently surveyed historical sections along Junjing Lane–Yaoyaqian and Luojia Lane include a main ditch stretching 1,066.4 meters and branch ditches totaling 37.5 meters. The main ditch is 0.7–1 meter wide and 1.1–1.35 meters high, featuring an arched brick ceiling, stone-brick sidewalls, and a flat bottom. These sections are well-preserved, retain their original structures, and carry a wealth of accumulated historical information, while continuing to function effectively.

Integrated with the Ganzhou city walls, Fushou Ditch forms an effective ancient urban flood control and drainage system, serving as a successful model of China's millennia-old urban civilization—such historical remnants are extremely rare. With updates and modifications across generations, Fushou Ditch has left behind a rich legacy of physical artifacts and historical data. It stands as a living testament to the thousand-year history of Song-era Ganzhou and offers valuable empirical material for the study of ancient Chinese urban construction. On August 22, 2016, then-Premier Li Keqiang inspected Fushou Ditch and praised it for its flood prevention and drainage functions, benefiting the people and extending the city’s life for millennia—highlighting the remarkable wisdom behind ancient Chinese subterranean infrastructure.

In 2019, Fushou Ditch was included in the eighth batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units.

Location: Underground in the old city area of Zhanggong District, Ganzhou City

Further Reading:

· Eighth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units