YINCHUAN — Every morning, Cui Yue rides his bicycle along the Tanglai Canal in Yinchuan, capital of the Ningxia Hui autonomous region, enjoying the picturesque scenery.
Born and raised in the city, the 68-year-old said that cycling along the canal gives him the chance to experience the improvements to the environment following the creation of several waterfront parks in recent years.
The ancient canal dates back to the Han Dynasty (202 BC-220 AD) and was built to bring water from the Yellow River to the region known today as Ningxia to turn tracts of desert into arable land.
The canal was listed as a World Heritage Irrigation Structure in 2017. Through the ages, it has functioned as an ecological corridor and is the largest naturally flowing trunk canal in the Yellow River irrigation area.
Along the 75-kilometer section that runs through Yinchuan, several parks with walking and cycling routes have been created, contributing to the city's expansion of green space for public leisure use.
In Yinchuan's rural areas, the canal provides water for farms and wetlands, playing a role in agricultural development and environmental protection. It is also one of the water sources for wetlands and a large artificial lake, both of which have become habitats for hundreds of migratory birds.
The 314 km-long canal runs through two other cities and nine counties and irrigates over 66,667 hectares of farmland in 175 villages.
Passing through the Manda Bridge Dam some 80 km north of Yinchuan, the canal supplies water to a massive 33,333-hectare farm.
"It used to be barren saline land. Now with water from the canal, it has become farmland," said Qin Zhiqi, a technician who works on the canal's irrigation system.
At a rural ecological experimental area called the Rice-Fish Space in Helan county, the canal irrigates 240 hectares of rice paddies and ponds where fish and crabs are bred.
"The water cycles through the rice fields, the greenhouses and fish and crab ponds. It demonstrates the practice of the green, scientific development of agriculture," said Zhao Kai, manager of the experimental area.
Thanks to technological innovation, water-saving measures and environmental protection, the water volume of the Tanglai Canal has increased about fivefold to 1 billion cubic meters over the past few years and is able to provide irrigation water for 185 days a year.
"The Tanglai Canal is a great ancient water conservancy project in Ningxia, which still benefits local people more than 2,000 years later," Cui said. "It will inject vitality into the agricultural and ecological development of cities along it."