🇨🇳 China · Hydraulic works
Karez of Turpan
Han dynasty 142 BCE to Qing · Han, Uyghur, Hui oasis communities
2000-year karez underground qanat network (5,000 km, 1,100 lines) feeding Turpan Depression vineyards from Tian Shan snowmelt.
Search places, or jump to a section
131 places in the atlas, 58 of them inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage.
🇨🇳 China · Hydraulic works
Han dynasty 142 BCE to Qing · Han, Uyghur, Hui oasis communities
2000-year karez underground qanat network (5,000 km, 1,100 lines) feeding Turpan Depression vineyards from Tian Shan snowmelt.
🇨🇳 China · Submerged site
Tang to Modern (763 – 1963 CE recordings; dam 2003) · Tang / Song / Yuan / Ming / Qing Chinese
1.6 km Yangtze ridge with 1,200-year water-level inscriptions from 763 CE — drowned by Three Gorges Dam and preserved inside world's deepest underwater museum.
🇨🇳 China · Hydraulic works
Spring & Autumn to Sui to Qing continuous operation · Wu State, Sui, Yuan engineers plus successive dynasties
1,797 km artificial river (5th c. BCE–609 CE)—world's longest canal, feeding capitals for 1,400 years.
🇨🇳 China · Hydraulic works
Warring States (Qin to Han) · Qin Sichuan, Bashu
Min River Fish-Mouth levee splitting Waijiang north flood vs Neijiang south irrigation with Lidui cut, 256 BCE Li Bing.
🇨🇳 China · Hydraulic works
Qin 256 BCE to Han 100 BCE to Qing 1884 (Dujiangyan east feeder) · Qin–Han Shu (Sichuan) state hydraulic
East feeder canal 5.2 km ×12×2.2 m stone revet 1.2 m with bottleneck sluice 8 m: Qin 256 BCE/Han 100 BCE eastern Chengdu 820 ha.
🇨🇳 China · Hydraulic works
Qin (Warring States unification) · Qin Central, Bashu, Baiyue
Xing'an Xiang north 70% vs Lingqu south 30% divide with Huazui spillway and 36 pound locks, 219 BCE Shi Lu Qin.
🇨🇳 China · Hydraulic works
Warring States Qin 246 BCE to Han 120 BCE (Zhengguo south) · Qin state Wei–Jing plain with Korean Zheng Guo engineer
South distributary 18 km ×14×2.6 m hangtu levees 3 m with 6 dragon-tail weirs 42 m and fish-scale carp gates 1.2 m: Zheng 246 BCE spy-branch.
🇨🇳 China · Hydraulic works
Han to Qing (2nd c. BCE – 19th c. CE) · Han Chinese, Turkic Uyghur, Gaochang Tokharian, Hui
Tianshan 5,000-km 1784-karez gravity snow-melt system below sea level Han–present.
🇨🇳 China · Hydraulic works
Warring States, Qin to Qing continuous · Qin state engineers under Li Bing (later successive dynasties maintenance)
256 BCE Qin weir still irrigating 5,300 km²—world's oldest dam-less hydraulic system.
🇨🇳 China · Hydraulic works
Imperial Chinese (Ming-Qing) on Han antecedent · Turpan Uyghur / Han frontier
Eastern extension (30 m asl, 42°57′04″N 89°11′22″E Turpan municipal 42.9512,89.1895; Flaming Mountains 100 km E-W 42.98,89.20 500-850 m) of Turpan-Hami Silk Road karez water system UNESCO 1442 Silk…
🇨🇳 China · Hydraulic works
Sui to Song (605–1080) · Sui–Tang Imperial (Yang Guang–Li Shimin)
Sui Grand Canal western 40-m prism 605 CE with Tongji wharf and Huiluo Barn harbour, Grand Canal type section.
🇨🇳 China · Hydraulic works
Qin to Tang to Qing continuous use · Qin imperial engineers under Shi Lu
214 BCE Qin contour canal—36 km linking Yangtze to Pearl via watershed split and 1,400-year-earlier pound locks.
🇨🇳 China · Hydraulic works
Warring States to Han continuous · Qin with Han engineer Zheng Guo (鄭國)
246 BCE 'sabotage' canal that irrigated 27,000 ha and enabled Qin to unify China.
🇨🇳 China · Hydraulic works
Qin 214 BCE to Tang 825 CE (Lingqu North pound) · Qin imperial (Shi Huang–Shi Lu) Lingqu Yue conquest hydraulic
North pound extension 1.2 km ×8×1.5 m with 3 Qin granite pound-locks 8×4 m ×1.0 m lift — earliest locks globally 214 BCE.
