A traditional Taoist ritual was held Sunday in Dujiangyan City, southwest China, to commemorate Li Bing, the designer of the 2,250-year-old but still operating irrigation project at Dujianyan.
Zou Lihui, master of the Erwang Taoist Temple, said that Li's project symbolized harmony between nature and human beings, which was in line with Taoist beliefs, and so Li was considered a model for Taoists.
In 250 B.C., Li Bing, a local government official of ancient Sichuan, led his people to build the project, which has for many centuries secured agricultural harvests due to its functions in irrigation and flood prevention.
Local people built a temple to commemorate Li and perform rituals around the Tomb-Sweeping Day, a traditional festival to respect the dead, which falls on Apr. 5 this year.
Li Ming'an, an official in charge of ethical and religious affairs in Dujiangyan City, said the ritual had been handed down for thousands of years.
The Dujiangyan project, located in the upper reaches of the Minjiang River, a tributary of the Yangtze, has been working for over 2,250 years.
(Xinhua News Agency April 8, 2003)
