The Study of Irrigation System and Water Rights Management of Laoyu River in Dian Lake Basin in Ming and Qing Dynasties

Laoyu River is an irrigative river on the east of the Dian Lake. There are many water conservancy projects, including gates, dams, weirs, irrigation canals and ditches, which constitute an intact irrigation system. As a significant water conservancy project in Laoyu River Basin, the Guoshan canal has formed an organically cyclic irrigation system which was described as water distribution-water diversion-water storage-water irrigation-water return. It has formed a rule of water rights distribution which was built around labor and capital, and it also built a water rights management organization around Shuizhang, but it was born in folk by idiopathic and was unofficial.