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Chinese archaeological workers have discovered ruins of river control works built in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) in Shanghai.

Chen Xiejun, curator of Shanghai Municipal Museum, claimed the ruins, covering an area of 1,000 square meters, are the largest ever found river control works built in the Yuan Dynasty.

Construction workers were the first to find the ancient stone structures at Zhidanyuan Residential Quarter in Shanghai City proper in May 2001.

In early September, archaeological workers excavated from 1.5 to 2.5 meters below ground the upper part of a stone gate.

The gate, with a width of 6.8 meters, has two huge stone pillars each bearing a groove. It is close to the old course of the Wusong River, also called the Suzhou River, which used to be a major waterway to the East China Sea. The Wusong River's function as a channel of navigation has now been replaced by Huangpu River because of silting.

According to historical records, from the Tang Dynasty (618-907) to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), central and local governments lavished huge sums of money and manpower on dredging the Wusong River, and building many water control works.

Song Jian, head of the archaeology department with Shanghai Municipal Committee of Cultural Relics Administration, believed the stone gate could be the work of Ren Renfa, a water control expert of the Yuan Dynasty who was appointed as water supervisor and thrice assigned the task of dredging the Wusong River.

The ruins are of great significance for studying changes in river courses, construction of water control facilities, and the shipping business development in Shanghai, said Song.