1944 Dujiangyan Opening of the Waters Ceremony
Item
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Title
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1944 Dujiangyan Opening of the Waters Ceremony
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Description
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Don Willmott took this series of photographs during WWII while he was teaching English at the Ming Hsien School. Ming Hsien was a Christian high school sponsored by Oberlin College, Ohio, that had moved from Shansi to Jintang County northwest of Chengdu in 1940. This Opening of the Waters Ceremony took place in April of 1944.
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Commentary
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From the Ming Hsien School in Jintang County to Dujiangyan was a distance of about 60 miles, which Willmott probably drove by truck or jeep with a group of Ming Hsien students and teachers, or with fellow US OSS recruit, Al Seely, who also taught at the school. Willmott notes in his unpublished memoires that spring break was in April. This is also when the Opening of the Waters ceremony takes place annually on the day of the Qingming Festival or Grave Sweeping Day (April 4th – 6th, determined by the Chinese lunar calendar). So, it seems likely that Willmott went during the school’s spring break.
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Event Date
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1944-04 (Qingming Festival)
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Provenance
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Passed down from K & E Willmott to Don Willmott, and then to Cory Willmott.
1944 Dujiangyan Panorama 1
1944 Dujiangyan Panorama 2
1944 Min Diversion 1
1944 Min Diversion 2
1944 Min Diversion 3
1944 Min Diversion 4
1944 Min Diversion 5
Anlan Rope Bridge at Dujangyan, 1944
Dujangyan Temple Top Fence
Dujiangyan Embankment with Temporary Ramp
Dujiangyan from Er Wang Temple Overview
Dujiangyan Pier with Temporary Ramp