Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Architecture: Heritage, Traditions and Innovations (AHTI 2022)

There are many water god temples in the downstream basin of Yuan River in Hunan Province. In ancient times the water god temples, which were regarded as the water god belief, were built on the water to pray for the safety of water traffic and to guide the waterway. Today, they are endowed with cultural value for the tourism economy. Due to the particularity of the water god temples being built by the water, the sites mark the shoreline of the ancient Yuan River. On the other hand, the construction base of the water god temples needs to be higher than the water level of the year. This article reveals the relationship between the water god temples in the downstream basin of the Yuan River and the environmental value of ancient water, that is, trying to use the height of the base of the water god temples to represent the elevation of the water level of the ancient river, in order to compare the changes of the highest water level and the characteristics of drought and flood in different periods of history. This study can provide reliable evidence for paleoclimate changes during the Qing Dynasty.