Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region - The Karez Underground Irrigation Channels 坎儿井 - 地下灌溉渠道

The karez underground irrigation channels are mainly concentrated in Hami哈密, Mulei木垒and Turpan吐鲁番in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, of which the Turpan Basin is themost, being approximately 1,100 kilometers. The karez is a special irrigation system, consisting of the ground channels, the underground channels, and the waterlogging dams. This kind of irrigation system came into being more than 2,000 years ago. Generally speaking, each karez is as long as 3 kilometers, the longest being 20 to 30 kilometers. The grandeur of the karez can be compared with the Great Wall and the Grand Canal as well.

These areas in Xinjiang are extremely arid. Take Turpan area for instance, an annual precipitation is merely 11 millimeters only while the rate of evaporation being 3,000 millimeters. Under such harsh conditions, surface irrigation seems impossible. Fortunately, Turpan is a basin surrounded by snow-capped mountains, which prove to be the source of abundant underground water. Making good use of the land inclination, local people succeeded in building such irrigation channels. Though simple yet quiet effective in construction, the tunnels and wells represent gigantic engineering masterpiece. First, many perpendicular wells have been sunk at intervals of one or several dozen meter. Then underground tunnels have been dug, linking up the bottoms of all the wells. The sand and gravel thus excavated are usually piled around the mouths of the wells, making them resembling miniature volcano raters. The depths of the wells vary from those on high ground, which are as deep as 10 to several dozen meters, to those close to the outlet of the water, which are only a few meters. According to The Historical Record, Emperor Wudi (156 BC-87, reigned 140-87 BC) of the Han Dynasty (206-BC-AD 220) mobilized tens of thousands of people to construct the irrigation project under harsh conditions. The deepest well is more than 120 meters underground.

The Karez Underground Irrigation Channels in Tupan impressed the tourist most. But the network of channels cannot be introduced to all the areas in Xinjiang, due to geological differences throughout the region. A bold plan proposed by T. C. Tso (board chairman of the US-based Institute of International Development and Education in Agriculture and Life Science, also a long-term adviser to China’s agricultural development) channeling water from the Tongtian River in nearby Qinghai Province to the western part of Xinjiang, and reservoirs built in the upper reaches of several rivers flowing westward to neighbouring countries. The four ancient water conservancy projects in China are the karez坎儿井, an irrigation system of wells connected by underground channels used in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Dujiangyan Irrigation Project都江堰 in Chengdu, Sichuan Province四川成都, the Ling Canal灵渠 in Guilin, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and the Grand Canal from Beijing to Hangzhou京航大运河.

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