Mulanbei, Historical reservoir in Putian, China.

Mulanbei is a historical irrigation system in Putian built with channels and storage structures designed to direct water to agricultural lands. The site shows how water was distributed across different elevation levels to water fields across a wide area.

Mulanbei was built three times. In 1064 the woman Qian Siniang funded a dam at Jiangjunyan, but a mountain flood destroyed it and she drowned herself. In 1068 Lin Congshi moved the site downstream to Wenquankou, where the tide washed it away. From 1075 Li Hong worked eight years at the foot of Mulan Mountain, completing the dam in 1083.

Qian Siniang, who funded the first dam in 1064, is honoured as a deity; Guo Moruo wrote a poem about her: "Who began it selflessly? People still speak of Lady Qian." The dam's sluice gates open to release floodwater and close against the tide of Xinghua Bay, which still pushes upstream to the dam at high water.

The site is accessible for visitors to view the channels and structures up close and understand how the system operated. Sturdy footwear is recommended since the terrain can be uneven and parts of the area run alongside water.

The dam is built of massive granite blocks locked together in a criss-cross pattern, with 33 piers and 32 sluice gates across 219.13 metres. At high tide in Xinghua Bay, seawater flows back upstream as far as the dam. The structure has been on China's national heritage list since 1988 and joined the first World Heritage Irrigation Structures list in 2014.