Large Water Wheel
Twin wooden waterwheels, one large and one small, spun by a mountain stream at the old town's gate.
Location
About this audio guide
The guide to the Large Water Wheel in Lijiang starts by correcting an easy assumption: the wheel looks Ming-dynasty old, but workers bolted it together only in nineteen ninety-eight, the year after the old town's UNESCO listing, to calm a chaotic junction where old and new Lijiang met. You'll hear how the architect Zhao Yixiong, who had studied traditional Naxi water power, designed the mismatched pair of wheels you see turning side by side, and borrowed paddle technology built for a world expo garden to survive the humid climate. Watch how the current from Black Dragon Pool upstream keeps both wheels moving.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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