Standing on the Shili long embankment in the north of Fuling District, Chongqing, looking at the rolling river, Huang Dejian, curator of Fuling District Museum, was very excited. The Baiheliang, which he has dealt with for half his life, will always sink in the river near the levee, which is the only underwater in-situ protected cultural relic in the Three Gorges reservoir area.
Baiheliang is a natural Liang Shi located on the west side of the Yangtze River in the north of Fuling District, Chongqing. Length 1.600 m, width 1.5 m, inclined to the north bank of the Yangtze River at an oblique angle of 1.5 degrees. Since the Tang Dynasty, the coastal people have recorded the water level in flood season here, and literati and poets have written poems here, leaving a large number of hydrological inscriptions and preserving the hydrological data of the 72-year low water of the Yangtze River. With high literary, artistic and hydrological value, it is known as "the earliest ancient hydrological station in the world" and "a miracle in the history of world hydrology". This year's dry season, the reporter once saw here that the inscription on the Liang Shi extending from west to east is divided into two parts. They vary in shape and size. The largest is two meters square, and the smallest is not enough. According to reports, experts found here 165 inscriptions, which collected the calligraphy masterpieces of more than 300 calligraphers, including Yan, Liu, Su, Huang and Zhao Ti, after the Tang Dynasty 1200 years. Seal script, official script, regular script, running script and cursive script were well prepared. It is a veritable "underwater forest of steles".
Huang Dejian told reporters that after the completion of the Three Gorges Reservoir, Baiheliang will be submerged forever. Since 1993, the state has organized dozens of academicians and experts to come here to make suggestions for the protection of Baiheliang.
"The underwater protection scheme is hard to come by." Talking about this protection project, Chen Zulin, general manager of Chongqing Xiajiang Cultural Relics Protection Engineering Co., Ltd., was filled with emotion. According to him, there are only four protection schemes on the desktop that have been proved by experts: the "underwater museum" scheme proposed by Tianjin University 1994; Underwater submergence and land replication scheme proposed by Yangtze River Water Resources Commission 1998; The onshore replication scheme proposed by Dr. Huang from the Third Construction Committee of the State Council; In 2000, Professor Ge Xiurun, an academician of China Academy of Engineering, put forward the "pressure-free container" scheme. According to reports, the first three schemes have been rejected, and the fourth scheme approved by National Cultural Heritage Administration is to build a huge reinforced concrete container on the Baiheliang, and then inject fresh water into the container to balance the pressure inside and outside the container. At the same time, two underwater passages with visiting windows are built from the shore and carved around the inscription, which is not only convenient for tourists to visit, but also can give full play to the academic research value of the inscription and organically combine the protection, research and tourism of the inscription.
The protection project of Baiheliang inscription ontology was completed before the flood season this year. The intermediate results of seven special studies, including underwater traffic corridor and circulation system, passed the expert review in August this year, and the remaining four special studies will be completed in September. He said that the protection project was implemented at the end of this year, completed in 2005 and put into trial operation in 2006.