Dujiangyan (都江堰) is a town about 50km north west of Chengdu city. I planned a day trip there one day when I was not scheduled to have class. The bus ride took about 45 minutes and was very smooth. There is a large high-speed highway between Chengdu and Dujiangyan, which makes it a perfect day trip. The city is famous for its massive irrigation project that took place nearly 2000 years ago and is primarily responsible for the growth and development of Sichuan, Chengdu. Dujiangyan was effected by the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. I didn’t go to the irrigation project, but I took some pictures of what the city looks like today, over 1 year after the earthquake.

Collasped Agricultural Bank of China

Collapsed Agricultural Bank of China

Damaged Roadway

Rebuilding

Vacant Buildings

Damaged BuildingDamaged Building, notice the four minority symbols on the building

Ancient Temple, large mountain in the background

Repainting a Famous Bridge

Removing the rubble, notice the minority symbols on the gate

Each piece of steel has to be hand extracted from the cement

How the buildings get broken down

Cold and blue river

A large amount of cold water flowing very quickly

Destroyed Buildings

Destroyed Buildings, who chose?

Who chose?