The town of Dujiangyan near Chengdu is best known for the Dujiangyan Irrigation System, which was built in 256 BC by the Sichuanese governor Li Bing and is still fully functional today, although it would be rendered irrelevant by the new Zipingpu Dam. Li Bing organised the building of an artificial island in Dujiangyan to tame and divide the flood-prone Min Jiang into two channels which could be regulated and tamed to provide a steadly flow of water for crop irrigation.

We only stopped briefly at Dujianyan for lunch before heading back to Chengdu, and did not get to see the Dujiangyan Irrigation System. But I saw this sculpture near the restaurant where we had lunch - an interesting sculpture of water overflowing endlessly from a huge cup into the open mouth of a Laughing Buddha. Quite symbolic of and befitting the fame of Dujiangyan.