Tiansheng Bridge Sluice

Overview

Tiansheng Bridge Sluice lies in Honglan Subdistrict, Lishui District. Formerly the Dongfanghong double-gate sluice, it is an important water hub linking the Shijiu Lake system with the Qinhuai River system (China Water Resources News, 26 January 2022). The award page calls it the Tianshengqiao double-gate sluice, while the Measures for the Management and Protection of Water Conservancy Works in Lishui District and the water plans call it Tiansheng Bridge Sluice; the three names are one hub and not three structures, as set out under Open questions. This entry is titled and identified as Tiansheng Bridge Sluice.

Position and divide: the district government's geographical position page records that the divide between the two systems runs east to west across the middle of the district, that northern water flows to the Qinhuai and southern water to Shijiu Lake, and that Tiansheng Bridge Sluice is the north-south marker of the divide. The near-term implementation plan of the territorial spatial plan, February 2021, sets out the course of the divide point by point, one clause of it reading "to Tiansheng Bridge Sluice, crossing the Tianshengqiao River", and records that the Tianshengqiao River links the two systems north and south. The sluice stands on the divide and crosses both systems, belonging to neither alone, and this entry records its basin as the watershed divide.

Its subdistrict is Honglan: the award page says Honglan Town, Lishui District, Nanjing, Honglan Town being the name in use at the time of writing and Honglan Subdistrict since 2018 (district government administrative divisions page).

Scale: the double-gate sluice is designed by reference to a class VI ship lock, with a clear gate width of 12 m and a chamber of 120 x 12 x 2.5 m, length by width by sill depth; the control sluice has a design flood discharge of 276 cubic metres per second, a clear gate width of 24 m and a 50-year flood standard; the works are class III, with the dike, the control sluice chamber and the upper and lower heads and chamber of the double-gate sluice as main structures of grade 2; the total investment was 101.55 million yuan (China Water Resources News, 26 January 2022). This entry takes the 120 m chamber length of the double-gate sluice, that is 0.12 km, for its length field; no overall length or area of the sluice is given officially, as set out under Open questions.

Management: Article 5(2) of the measures gives the management area of Tiansheng Bridge Sluice as 300 m of channel upstream and downstream and 100 m to each side from the outer edge of the structure; Article 3 lists a Tiansheng Bridge Sluice management office; Article 19(1) records that its maintenance costs are entered in the district budget by the district finance bureau; and Article 25 lists it among the three district-managed medium sluices, Tiansheng Bridge Sluice, Zhongshan River Sluice and Zhoujiashan Sluice. Article 20 provides that the flood warning levels and flood control schemes for the Lishui first, second and third trunk rivers of the Qinhuai, the Tianshengqiao River and Shijiu Lake are proposed by the municipal flood control and drought relief headquarters and submitted to the provincial headquarters for approval.

Formation and change

Begun and completed: the double-gate sluice was begun in 1969 and completed and put into use in 1972. On appraisal as a class IV sluice the old structure was demolished and rebuilt on a new site (China Water Resources News, 26 January 2022).

The rehabilitation works: the works combine a relocated new build with a double-gate sluice and a control sluice, serving flood defence, storage, diversion, navigation and flood relief; the works are class III, with the dike, the control sluice chamber and the upper and lower heads and chamber of the double-gate sluice as main structures of grade 2; the total investment was 101.55 million yuan. Construction began in November 2017 and completion acceptance was held by the Nanjing Municipal Water Bureau in December 2019 (China Water Resources News, 26 January 2022). The review of the 13th Five-Year period lists "completing the relocation and new build of Tiansheng Bridge Sluice and the rehabilitation of Zhoujiashan Sluice" among its achievements (General Office of the People's Government of Lishui District, Lu Zheng Ban Fa [2021] No. 87); "rebuilt on a new site" and "relocated and newly built" are two ways of describing the same works and are repeated as they stand.

An earlier plan: the Lishui County water plan for the Eleventh Five-Year period gives the direction of works on the Tianshengqiao River, including a standard dike from the Chenjia River through the Sancha River to the Honglan market town, dredging, enlarging the channel's capacity for flood flow, diversion and navigation, rebuilding the structures along it, treating weathered rock in the reaches above and below Tiansheng Bridge Sluice, and raising and thickening the flood-diversion channels along the river (People's Government of Lishui County, Lu Zheng Fa [2005] No. 76). That is a plan of 2005, not a record of works done.

Figures for the old sluice: the mainstream press figure of an old sluice built in 1972 with a maximum design discharge of 120 cubic metres per second and appraised as a class IV dangerous sluice is a lead only, and this entry does not rely on it, as set out under Open questions.

Landscape and visiting

The scenic area: the Tiansheng Bridge scenic area is a 4A tourist attraction, a national water conservancy scenic area, part of the Grand Canal National Cultural Park and a Jiangsu provincial protected cultural site (Nanjing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, September 2026). The sluice stands in the neighbourhood of the Tiansheng Bridge scenic area in Honglan Subdistrict, beside the Ming canal known as the Yanzhi or Tianshengqiao River and beside Tiansheng Bridge; the status of the scenic area and the protection level of the heritage belong to the entries on the scenic area and the heritage, and this entry neither repeats the levels nor fills a scenic grade field.

Navigation: the double-gate sluice is designed by reference to a class VI ship lock and serves navigation (China Water Resources News, 26 January 2022).

Visiting information: this site has found no first-tier source for tickets, opening times and visitor services at Tiansheng Bridge Sluice itself; the sluice precinct is a water works management area, and visits should follow the official notices of the district water department, the district culture and tourism department and the scenic area. This entry was checked to September 2026.

Open questions

• Three names: the award page writes Tianshengqiao double-gate sluice, the Measures for the Management and Protection of Water Conservancy Works in Lishui District writes Tiansheng Bridge Sluice, a medium sluice, and the water plans write Tiansheng Bridge Sluice; the three are one hub and must not be treated as three structures. This entry is titled and identified as Tiansheng Bridge Sluice.
• The years of the two rounds are set apart: begun in 1969 and completed in 1972, against construction beginning in November 2017 and completion acceptance in December 2019. These are two rounds of works and must not be merged or mismatched.
• Two descriptions of the rebuilding: the award page says rebuilt on a new site, and the 14th Five-Year water plan says relocated and newly built; the two refer to the same works and are repeated as they stand.
• The scale field: this entry takes the 120 m chamber length of the double-gate sluice, 0.12 km, for its length field. No overall length or area of Tiansheng Bridge Sluice is given officially; the clear gate widths of 24 m for the control sluice and 12 m for the double-gate sluice are widths, not lengths. The value is this site's record of a sluice-type feature under its scale-field rules, as explained under Overview.
• The old sluice figures are a lead only: the mainstream press figure of an old sluice built in 1972 with a maximum design discharge of 120 cubic metres per second is not borne out by any official document, and this entry neither relies on it nor writes the old sluice's scale from it.
• "Class VI ship lock" is repeated as it stands, with the Roman numeral kept.
• Basin: the sluice crosses both systems and stands on the divide, and this entry records its basin as the watershed divide. The district government's geographical position page also gives the reach above Tiansheng Bridge Sluice as 6.3 km, in the Shijiu Lake system, and the reach below it as 8.7 km, in the Qinhuai system; the two attachments stand separately and are not merged into one statement.
• Construction and acceptance are set apart: construction began in November 2017 and completion acceptance was in December 2019, two events that must not be merged into one year.