Sunshu Ao facts for kids

Sunshu Ao (born around 630 BCE, died around 593 BCE) was an amazing Chinese engineer and a smart politician. He lived a very long time ago, during a period called the Eastern Zhou dynasty. He worked for King Zhuang of Chu, who was so impressed with Sunshu Ao that he made him a very important leader, like a Prime Minister. Sunshu Ao helped the state of Chu with many big projects. He is famous for building a huge dam and a reservoir to help farmers water their crops. Because of this, many people call him China's first known water engineer!

Building Big Water Projects

Sunshu Ao was in charge of a massive project. He oversaw the building of a huge dam across a river. This dam created an enormous lake, called a reservoir. The main goal of this project was to help farmers. The water from the reservoir was used for irrigation, which means bringing water to farm fields.

The Giant Reservoir

This huge reservoir was built in what is now northern Anhui province. It was so big that it stretched for about 62 miles (100 kilometers) around! This ancient lake collected tons of water. This water came from mountains north of the Yangtze River. It helped water a massive area of farmland, about six million acres (24,000 square kilometers).

In ancient times, people called this reservoir the Si-Si Bei or the Shao Bei. Today, this same reservoir still exists! It is now known as the Anfeng Tang, or Anfeng Reservoir. It shows how amazing Sunshu Ao's engineering skills were, as his work is still used thousands of years later.

Keeping the Dam Strong

After Sunshu Ao's time, many different Chinese governments helped keep his dam working. Dynasties like the Han dynasty (202 BCE – 220 CE) and the Tang dynasty (618–960 CE) repaired and maintained the dam. This made sure the reservoir continued to provide water for farming. It shows how important Sunshu Ao's project was for many centuries.