Brief information on Waterwheel Garden  

The Waterwheel Garden was built in 1994 and is located at the Middle Binhe Road (Binhe Zhong Lu) in Lanzhou, Gansu Province. The garden covers an area of 1.45 hectares (3.58 acres) and consists of two waterwheels, a cofferdam, the recreation area and a water mill.

Lanzhou is the only city through which the Yellow River flows and hence there are many irrigation machines in the city. The waterwheel was invented by Duan Xu during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and is the oldest of its kind. Duan Xu learnt from the irrigation machines in Yunnan Province and invented a distinctive style with the appearance of chariot wheels of diameter ranging from 10 to 20 meters (32.8 to 65.6 feet). An axle and boards were placed at the centre of the wheel and the brim of the wheel was fixed with many quadrate buckets. These buckets could carry water to a height of 15 to 18 meters (49 to 59 feet) to water fields. Before the year 1952, there were about 252 waterwheels sighted along the river in Lanzhou and the city was called the ’City of Waterwheels’ then.

In the garden, on the south bank of the Yellow River, you can see two huge waterwheels. They are modeled after the traditional waterwheel of a diameter 16.5 meters (54.1 feet) with quadrate buckets. During high water level periods, they were driven by flowing water of the river; in low water level periods, they were driven by water gathered by cofferdam. The two waterwheels and its location attract a lot of tourists to the Waterwheel Teahouse. Visitors get to watch the revolving waterwheels while enjoying a cup of tea here. In addition, the photo studio, stores and the water mill in the garden provide further entertainment.

*You can download the bilingual note to show it to a taxi driver or someone else to find your way to Waterwheel Garden if you plan to visit Waterwheel Garden and have language problems.

   

Hours: 08:00-18:00
Location: Qilihe district
Address: No. 4 Binhe Rd.
Phone: 0931-2612784
Transportation: Buses: 15,7 ,107, 83
Admission: CNY 2