The Yongding Steep Gate, a Ming Dynasty water conservancy project, is under renovation

A gate, a movable dam or lock, is a gate built on a river bed, lake bank, or canal to control the water level or to take in and release water. In Gaochun District Yangjiang Town Dayuyue Village, there is such a Ming water conservancy project - Yongding steep gate. At present, the renovation of Yongding Steep Gate and the surrounding environment is under way and is expected to be completed by the end of November.

Yesterday morning, the reporter came to Gaochun district Yangjiang town Dayuyue village, in the northwest of the village found Yongding steep gate. According to reports, Yongding Steep gate for the municipal cultural relics protection units, built in the Ming Dynasty, Cangxi River, under the irrigation of Nandang Wei, for local residents to fight flooding water conservancy projects, the ram down the block, the ram lift water. The steep gate is made of bluish stone and consists of the main bridge, the water inlet wall, the water outlet wall, the connotation hole and the control ram. It is 26.2 meters long, 13.5 meters wide and 6.35 meters high in the east-west direction, covering an area of 366.66 square meters.

On the bridge on the side of Lincang River, there is inscribed a couplet called "Yongmian Panshi Lidingsui Rice Liangshu", which expresses the working people's hope for the construction of Doumen to ensure a good harvest of grain. The name of Yongding Steep Gate comes from the first character of this couplet. The "Baofeng Year" carved above the culvert and the stone tablet of the Guangxu year excavated from the previous investigation show that the steep gate was repaired in the second year of Guangxu and the fourth year of the Republic of China.

In the past hundred years, cracks and displacements have appeared in the stone of the bridge, and vegetation has grown in the cracks. The main structure of the bridge has been destroyed. The wall and platform of the water outlet have been planted with vegetables by the surrounding residents. Duckweed is clustered in the water outlet and garbage is piled up. The surrounding environment is very bad, which affects the appearance of cultural relics.

"Gaochun prospers because of water, and there are a large number of ancient towns and villages and hydraulic heritage within the territory. Yongding Steep Gate, as one of the relatively complete water conservancy facilities preserved among the 103 hydraulic relics in Gaochun, is representative among the same type of water control projects and has multiple values for the study of the development of water culture in Gaochun." Hang Yongshan, the first secretary of the Party branch of the city's transport bureau, said that with the help of the city's transport department to build roads, Bridges, channel repair "special skills" and resources, they carried out the overall planning of the road network of the whole village, built the same heart road, Unicom North-South trunk line, this year's task is to renew the same De road, the new moon road, at the same time repair Yongding steep gate and remediation of the surrounding environment.

It is understood that the repair project is mainly to strengthen and repair the main structure of the steep gate building, such as restoring the bridge body components such as drum stone, stone railings and pillar on the main bridge, removing the cement joints with poor features and using traditional methods to repair. At the same time, landscape renovation projects will be carried out on the surrounding environment of the building, planting tallow, maple poplar, willow, red plum, camellia and other trees and flowers, and planting water lilies, calamus and other plants to create a leisure square. Yongding Steep Gate restoration total investment of 750,000 yuan, including Nanjing Road and Bridge Engineering Corporation donated 250,000 yuan. Construction began on August 30 and is expected to be completed by the end of November.

Source: Nanjing Daily, page A6, September 28, 2018