POPULOUS AND BEAUTIFUL SZECHUAN 
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OUTLINE MAP OF CHINA, SHOWING SZECHUAN 
ment lay chiefly in devising an exceed- 
ingly intricate plexus of irrigation 
trenches, which spread the waters of the 
Min River far and wide over the plain. 
The system was admirably designed and 
skilfully executed. ‘Though the natural 
difficulties were not a few nor slight, 
even from the viewpoint of an engineer 
of the present day, the work was success- 
fully accomplished by Li Ping, a Chinese 
engineer who lived 2,100 years ago. 
The controlling works at Kuan Hsien 
are the key to the whole irrigating sys- 
tem. Here a movable and adaptable dam 
or jetty, consisting primarily of boulders 
ingeniously wrapped in bamboo strips, 
so as to form long cylindrical wicker 
baskets, is so placed, when the time 
comes for turning the water into the 
trenches, as to deflect about half of the 
Min River into the head of the irrigation 
system. After flowing a short distance, 
this main irrigation stream is divided into 
two branches, each of which is later 
subdivided, and so on until each field 
throughout the plain is reached by the 
