Sancha Reservoir
Reservoir valley of drowned river-trade streets and guild halls, now scattered with over a hundred hilltop islands.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Sancha Reservoir near Chengdu opens with what sits beneath the water in front of you rather than silt and rock: streets, courtyards and six merchant guild halls from a booming river town called Sancha Ba, itself built on a market founded in the Western Wei dynasty. It traces how coin-smelting and copper trade turned the town into what people nicknamed Little Chengdu in the late 1920s, then follows the drought-driven decision in 1975 to break ground on a dam at the foot of Longquan Mountain. Listen for how the guide describes the moment water climbed the valley and reached the wharves.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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