Sancha Reservoir

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.