UNESCO World Heritage SiteNational 5A Scenic AreaSouthwest China
Dujiangyan & Mount Qingcheng
都江堰·青城山 · Sichuan, Chengdu
A 2,200-year-old irrigation system still in use, plus the Taoist cradle on forested Mount Qingcheng.
Dujiangyan is an ingenious 256 BC water-conservancy system that tamed the Min River without a dam, still irrigating the Chengdu plain today; visitors walk across suspension bridges and split-barrage works amid a riverside park. Nearby Mount Qingcheng is a serene Taoist cradle of mossy trails, ginkgoes and temples, with a cable car to the upper mountain.
The irrigation system was engineered by Li Bing around 256 BC in the Warring States period and has functioned for over 2,200 years. Mount Qingcheng is traditionally where the Way of the Celestial Masters began Taoism in 142 AD. The Mount Qingcheng and Dujiangyan Irrigation System was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2000.
Day-by-day routes you won't find online — now starting with an 8-day, 1,500 km loop through western Sichuan. New regions are added regularly; tell us where you want to drive next.
