Dujiangyan Sites
Dujiangyan lies on the route between Chengdu and Wolong. Designated within an area known as Greater Chengdu it’s a large town with a population of around 660,000. It’s also an important gateway to the Tibetan areas in the west, being the closest town, to places like Danba, Maerkang and Wenchuan, with good shopping, hospital and school facilities. When heading out west this is the last convenient stop to find ‘luxuries’ like cheese, KFC and banks that have ATM’s that accept foreign bankcards. Dujiangyan also offers many tourist attractions, which include two Panda Centres and the UNESCO World Heritage sites of Qingcheng Mountain and Dujiangyan Irrigation System. Being just an hour and half’s drive from downtown Chengdu, it’s a very popular destination for the city and every weekend hordes of day trippers make use of the expressway and high-speed rail connection to escape into a far cleaner, greener environment. Being so close to Chengdu, with many of the same tourist facilities, but being far smaller, quieter and having plentiful accommodation within walking distance of green areas and UNESCO world heritage sites, Dujiangyan makes for an attractive alternative hotel base to the big city.
Wikepedia Dujiangyan here
Qingcheng Mountain
Qingcheng Mountains are a low, well forested range of mountains that border Duijiangyan and serve as a demarcation between the flat plain landscape of the basin and the rolling mountains that gradually lead to the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayas. The lush landscape is very similar to Emei and, likewise, the mountains also have religious significance, but this time as a birthplace of Taoist philosophy. In that context the mountains are dotted with Taoist temples and here you can find many practitioners of Taoist healing and more traditional forms of Chinese medicine. The main tourist sites are the front (Qingcheng Qianshan) and back mountain (Qingcheng Houshan). The front Mountain is the major tourist site with most temples, and the end of the Chengdu high-speed rail connection ends close to the main gate. However, if you are looking for a bit more seclusion and walks that take you along wonderful mountain streams and deep rocky chasms, then the back mountain – which can be reached bus from the train station – is maybe the best choice.
The high-speed rail link between Chengdu and Dujiangyan ends just outside the town at the foot of Qingcheng Mountain.
UNESCO information on Qingcheng Mountain can be found here
Wikipedia Qingcheng Mountain here
Dujiangyan Ancient Irrigation System
Also, under UNESCO World Heritage status this site represents a 2,000 year old engineering project that cut water channels through hills, to the west of the town, to prevent flooding and also provide irrigation for agriculture further down on the plains of the basin. Nestling on the very edge of the western highlands, the area suffered flooding from mountain melt water that came through the Min River. The project was a huge undertaking since it was all done by hand, with any channelling into rock being accomplished by lighting fires and then cracking it open by rapid cooling. When visiting the site there isn’t much to see that makes you think of an ancient irrigation system – you see water channels - but inside the ticketed area there are old temples, a pagoda and some very pleasant parkland. Covering a large area, there are several entrances to the irrigation park area – some very close to Dujiangyan town centre. With rail link and fast motorway connection this is an easy to reach destination from Chengdu. Once out of city traffic, just over an hour’s drive. If coming by high-speed train, be aware that there are two stations at Dujiangyan. One in the town centre, which is walking distance from the irrigation system – while the other is on the track to Qingcheng Mountain and situated very inconveniently on the very edge of town.
UNESCO information on Dujiangyan Irrigation System can be found here
Wikepedia Dujiangyan Irrigation system here
