As one of the historical sites under State protection, Tashan Weir is situated in the west of Yinjiang Town of Yin County and it is a masterpiece of water conservancy project of ancient China. The weir features an impressive size and refined structure, and ranks among ancient China's top four water conservancy projects together with the Zhengguo Weir, Ling Weir and Dujaing Weir.

Siming Mountain stands high in the west of Yin County, winding its way like a snake, and covers rainy areas of over 350 km2. Every Spring and Autumn, heavy rain would bring disastrous floods and numerous people, animals and plants in nearby areas have suffered hard from it for hundreds of years. During Taihe Period of Tang Dynasty, that is, 883 , Wang Yuanwei, who came from Langya of Shandong Province and held office of Magistrate of Yin County, was determined to build the Tashan Weir so as to eradicate the threat of floods.

According to The Record of Siming Tashan Weir, on the south of a local stream lies a high mountain while on the north is a flat land where a hill sits. As there were no other hills around on the plain, it acquired the name "Tashan Hill"(Tashan is the Chinese Pinyin meaning "the solitary hill"). In the past, the salty waves of Fenghua River rushed up to Pingshui Pool and had such a terrible impact that "No lands were cultivable and no people had fresh water to drink however thirsty they were." In order to prevent the local agriculture from natural calamities, Wang Yuanwei ordered to set up the Tashan Weir.

Tashan Weir is a spectacular project, 113.73 m long and 4.8 m wide. It was made of rocks of 2.3 m long, 1 m wide and 0.3 m thick. In order to make the weir stronger, the builders poured the melted iron in it. Thanks to the weir, more than 200,000 mu lands of 7 towns in the west of Yin County got irrigated. "With the donation of the public and the allocation of governmental reserves, the weir enables the local people to drink fresh water and the businessmen to transport their goods. The local people depend largely on it and benefit a lot from it." When a heavy flood overflows the weir into the Fenghua River, it would flow along Yong River to Zhenhai and empty into the ocean. In this way, the impact of the flood was lessened to a large extent. Tashan Weir is a famous piece of works, boasting a scientific design and favorable geographical position. It can not only ease the flood and drought, but also adjust the volume of running water.

Tashan Weir is recorded to have 36 stone steps and hold a very high level of water. Every time rain poured down, the rageful flood would come down mountains from the upstream, presenting a spectacular scene. Ancient people thought highly of it. "The ear-deafening thunder-like sound can be heard even 10 miles away, and it is such a frightening scene that even the specters dare not approach."

After the completion of the weir, in consideration of the insufficient capacity of flood discharge, Wang Yuanwei went on to build the Wujin Floodgate, Jidu Floodgate and Xingchun Floodgate across the Nantang River to raise the discharging capacity. A complete water conservancy system was therefore developed. It is said that Wang Yuanwei set three wooden ducks drifting down the river and chose the place where they stopped to be locations for the floodgates. The interesting story was widely spread and recorded in The History of Yin County.

Tashan Weir became more and more complete through repairs, dredging and addition of auxiliary works of Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing Dynasties and at the time of the Republic of China. Some 50 miles northwest of Tashan Weir lies the Huisha Floodgate built by Magistrate Chen Kai in 1242(the 2nd year of Chunyou reign in Song Dynasty). The purpose of the floodgate was to prevent the river from being blocked by quicksand. As auxiliary projects, Hongshuiwan Dyke was built by Wu Qian, an official in 1255 (During Baoyou reign in South Dynasty) and Guanchi Dyke was, later on, constructed in 1524 (The 3rd Year of Jiajing Period in Ming Dynasty). These dykes could not only discharge flood, but stop sand from entering the river.

Wang Yuanwei made such a great contribution by establishing the weir that the people were heartily grateful to him. From Five-dynasty Period to the beginning of Song Dynasty, local people built a temple in memory of him. During Qiandao reign in South Dynasty, the Emperor conferred the title of "Long-lasting Virtue" on the temple and the folk liked to call it "Tashan Temple". The existent temple was built at the end of Qing Dynasty and the beginning of Minguo Regime, which expressed the sincere thanks and praises to Wang Yuanwei. On the eaves of the temple was written "Wang's virtue benefits millions of local residents and his name will be remembered as long as the mountains and rivers." Entering the newly-made gate and walking through the dooryard, you will see the frontal hall of the temple with a couple of stone lions on both sides of the steps. In front of the back hall stands a pavilion named " Stones carry fragrance far away". There is a stele made in the 11th Year of Jiaqing reign in Qing Dynasty in the pavilion and on the back of the stele was inscribed the immortal deeds of Wang Yuanwei.

Although Tashan Weir has weathered storms of hundreds of years and witnessed the vicissitudes of the world, it still stands firm and plays crucial roles to discharge floods and conserve water. In recent years, studies have been conducted on the weir during the repairs. These studies reveal that the middle part of weir is 3.85 m high and that both of its ends are about 2 m high. The bottom of the weir, 3.7 m--6.4 m thick, is made of gravel and clay, under which lie the bedrocks. According to the studies, there are four wonders about the weir. ¢Å The bottom of weir tends to lean upstream at 5 degrees. Compared with a flat-bottom weir, the weir of this design could be twice as steady. ¢Æ The gravel and clay are used as matting to lessen seepage through the gravel riverbed underneath the weir. ¢ÇThe weir across the riverbed, which was well designed, can le the water into the center of riverbed and reduce the erosion upon the banks of riverbed. ¢È The weir sank in the riverbed evenly and firmly. All four wonders above may be explained in terms of modern architectonics and mechanics. Tashan Weir conveys the wisdom and diligence of Chinese people, and adds a great luster to the Chinese culture. Nowadays, for the purpose of preserving the historical relics, the local government and people have made efforts to repair the Tashan Weir and Guanshan Temple, and engrave the colored effigy of Wang Yuanwei and ten representative weir builders. On every March 3rd and October 10th on Chinese lunar calendar, hundreds of local people from Bujiang Town come here voluntarily to offer their worship. Tashan Weir has turned into a water conservancy project exhibition hall to recount the ancient water conservancy endeavors of Ningbo and Zhejiang in all-round perspectives.

Tashan Weir and its Long-lasting-virtue Temple are situated in Yinjiang Town where there are clear water and green mountains. The Dragon Ponds lies by the Temple, and the Gangshan Hill and Turtle Rock under the Weir. Tashan Weir links the limpid Zhangxi River upstream and the open Yinjiang River downstream, along which a dense population lived. It is such a picturesque landscape that a folk intellectuals are heard saying "Tranquil and deep valleys lie in front of the memorial temple and all charms of the village is gathered here".

Address: Yinjiang Town, Yin County, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province
Postal code: 315100







Chiang Kai-shek's Former Residence

As one of the historic sites under State protection, Chiang Kai-shek's Former Residence is located Zhongjie Street, Xikou, and consists of six rooms passed on from Chiang's ancestors. According to The Pedigree of the Chiangs in Wuling revised in 1948, "in the 14th year of Guangxu reign in Qing Dynasty when Chiang Kai-shek was two years old, Chiang An (Chiang Kai-shek's father) moved from Yutai to the West Wing of Baoben Hall." The reason for the move is that the Yutai Salt Shop, the business premises of Chiang An, was ruined by a fire. The West Wing of Baoben Hall is now the separate building to the west of Baoben Hall. In 1928, in order to expand his residence, Chiang Kai-shek had 25 families moved away to build his residence into a bigger one covering an area of 4,800 m2 with a floor space of 1850 m2. There are three rooms in the frontal hall of Chiang's residence, among which the room upstairs served as the poet-reading room for Mao, and the two rooms downstairs were used for the reception of guests and accounting respectively. In the back hall are three high-roofed plain rooms, the middle one being "Baoben Room" written by Wu Jingheng. Baoben Room used to be the place where the Chiang's family worshipped their ancestors (Baoben means "repayment of gratitude"). In front of the room hangs a plaque bearing the words "Rational Spirit" written by Chiang Kai-shek for his son at his 40-year-old birthday. The poles and beams in Chiang Kai-shek's Former Residence are elaborately carved and painted. In the center of the roof are colored paintings, such as "Three stars twinkling high" and "Two dragons competing for a be", in addition to the relief sculptures on the poles like "Emperor Wen searching for wise men" and " The dragon and phoenix bringing good fortune". All pieces of artistic works contain the essence of folk art.

There are three gardens in the front yard, connected by arches. Song Meiling once planted osmanthuses on each side of the dooryard, and she lived in the east room while Mao Fumei (Qiang's first wife) in the west room.

Address: Xikou Town, Fenghua, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province
Postal code; 315500
Tel: 0574-88857997