Across China: Beijing restores Fragrant Hills' ancient diversion canals
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E-mail Xinhua, July 21, 2020
BEIJING, July 21 (Xinhua) -- A restoration project has begun on the ancient water system of the Fragrant Hills (Xiang Shan) in suburban Beijing.
The Fragrant Hills is a large forest park with the characteristics of imperial gardens in which the natural landscape is combined with artificial scenery. It is more than 20 km from Beijing and covers an area of 160 hectares.
The restoration project includes the restoration of more than 7,000 meters of stone diversion canals and three water source sites, Beijing Daily reported Tuesday.
The ancient water system of the Fragrant Hills can be traced back to the period of Emperor Qianlong (1736-1795), said the newspaper.
In 1745, Qianlong ordered large-scale construction in the Fragrant Hills. At that time, 28 beautiful scenes with enclosing walls were set up and named Jingyi Park by the emperor.
The springs of the Fragrant Hills have been plentiful since ancient times. Thus the diversion canals were built in 1773 to make better use of the springs.
It gradually fell into ruins due to lack of repair and maintenance as well as other elements.
Around 2013, the diversion canals were found during reconstruction efforts. Three lines (north, central and south lines) of the water system were identified thanks in part to historical records and field archaeology, at a length of 4,642.7 meters.
For historical reasons, some stone diversion canals were out of place or damaged.
The restoration of both open and underground canals began in 2019, repairing almost 2,700 meters of canals along the south and central lines. The over 1,975-meter north line restoration and extension project will begin soon.
The open canals were restored with bluestones, while the underground canals were reconstructed with granite, said the newspaper.
Water cellars were built near the spring sources during the original construction of the diversion canals in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Lin Yi, an official of the Fragrant Hills Park, was quoted as saying by the newspaper. But some cellars have collapsed or been damaged.
The park will conduct protective repairs on three spring sources.
Spring water, rainfall and recycled water will be the main water sources when the reconstruction is completed, while more than 10 scenic sites will be linked by the canals. Enditem
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