Qiantang Seawall

Laid in staggered courses and clamped with iron, the five-tiered fish-scale stone seawall at Yanguan withstands what is called the world's mightiest tidal bore.

Along the south bank of the Qiantang, the Xiaoshan seawall held back tidal floods, protecting the prosperous farmland and towns behind it.

This monument pavilion and site honour Qian Liu, King of Wuyue, who pioneered stone-filled bamboo cages to build seawalls against the tide.

Part of Qiantang Seawall's history: Wuyue Peace & Jiangnan Prosperity. Founder of the Wuyue kingdom, a salt smuggler turned general who seized the two Zhe circuits from Dong Chang and was made King of Wuyue by the Later Liang

Part of Qiantang Seawall's history: Wuyue Peace & Jiangnan Prosperity. Founder of the Min state in Fujian who followed his brother Wang Chao south, became military governor at Fuzhou, and was named King of Min by the Later Liang in 909

Part of Qiantang Seawall's history: Wuyue Peace & Jiangnan Prosperity. Last king of Wuyue, grandson of Qian Liu, who ruled for thirty years as a vassal of the northern courts and in 978 handed his thirteen prefectures to the Song without a fight

Wuyue Peace & Jiangnan Prosperity

Qian Liu's protect-the-realm policy limited Wu-Yue's involvement in warlord conflict and gave Hangzhou a comparatively stable setting for economic growth.

In 910, Wuyue King Qian Liu built a bamboo-cage stone seawall at Hangzhou to reduce tidal erosion and inundation.

During his 1765 southern tour, Qianlong inspected the Qiantang seawall at Haining, where records describe fish-scale stone seawalls and coastal defense works.