CHENGDU, China, April 5, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- On April 4, the first Qingming Draining Water Festival and the "Origin of Sichuan" Water-Culture tourism Festival will be held in Dujiangyan, China. An original report by Chengdu Juhe Shengdao Cultural Communication Co., Ltd follows:
The festival is considered a transmission of the area's over 1,000 years of history. Moreover, this festival highlights Dujiangyan, the irrigation infrastructure built in 256 BC that was revitalized after a massive earthquake centered on the Dujiangyan area struck on May 12, 2008.
The Draining Water Festival began from AD 978 as a traditional festival where local people drained water off the dam, offering sacrifices to the gods and ancestors on the banks every Qingming Festival in Dujiangyan. This year, besides the Water Draining ceremony, the Dujiangyan government has collected 31 pairs of "water babies" as the angels to appreciate the people who helped Dujiangyan after the earthquake and to give blessings for prosperity.
The festival will last until the end of this year and includes a series of activities featuring Chinese chess matches, biking, hiking and social parties, and more.
About Dujiangyan
Annual flooding of the Min River was a constant threat to those who lived on its banks during the Warring States period (406-221 BC). While the easiest solution would have been to build a dam, military vessels still needed to be able to move along the waterway, so instead the government of the time created a levee that redirected part of the river. The excess water was redirected into the Chengdu Plain and became Dujiangyan. As a result, the floods abated and Sichuan became China's most agriculturally productive region. Dujiangyan became recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000.
