jiangnan canal

jiangnan canal

This entry is compiled and applied by "popular science China" Science Encyclopedia

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Jiangnan canal, once called Jiangnan River and Zhexi canal, is the southern section of Beijing Hangzhou canal. From Zhenjiang and Yangzhou in Jiangsu Province in the north, around the East Bank of Taihu Lake to Suzhou in Jiangsu Province, and to Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province in the south. It is the busiest shipping channel of Beijing Hangzhou canal. Jiangnan has been rich in water since ancient times. The Yangtze River Delta used to be a swamp and a world of water. There are many rivers, lakes, streams, swamps and wetlands there.

It is said that as early as the spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period (3rd century BC), due to the low and flat terrain between the Yangtze River and the Qiantang River and the dense rivers and lakes, a canal connecting the rivers and lakes had appeared. Later, the canal in the south of the Yangtze River began to take shape after being dug and dredged in successive dynasties. In 610, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty rebuilt and widened the canal south of the Yangtze River, forming today's Jiangnan canal.

Introduction to rivers

Jiangnan canal, also known as Jiangnan River, is a section of China's Beijing Hangzhou canal to the south of the Yangtze River. It is the busiest shipping channel of Beijing Hangzhou canal.

People in Jiangnan commonly call Jiangnan canal "Guanhe" or "Guantang". The Jiangnan canal starts from Zhenyang in the north and passes through Danyang, Changzhou, Wuxi, Suzhou, Wujiang, Jiaxing and Tongxiang to Hangzhou. The canal connects the Yangtze River in the north and Qiantang River in the south. It is connected with the Jindan licaohe, Wuyi Caohe, Xicheng canal, Wangyu River, Liuhe river, Wusong River, Taipu River, wuxingtang, pinghutang, huatingtang, Hangyong canal and other canals. It is the main channel of river transportation in the south of the Yangtze River

. The canal is divided into three channels in the south of Pingwang town in Wujiang River. The one to Jiaxing is called the ancient canal. The river directly to Hangzhou was dug by Zhang Shicheng, a warlord of the Yuan Dynasty, and the one to Huzhou is called wuxingtang. The excavation of the canal in the south of the Yangtze River can be traced back to the Sun Wu period of the Three Kingdoms. The Sun Wu regime dug the canal in order to connect Nanjing with the Taihu Plain. After that, the canal was strengthened in successive dynasties, and the current pattern was basically formed in the Tang Dynasty

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In 610, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty rebuilt and widened the canal south of the Yangtze River, forming today's Jiangnan canal. Jiangnan canal and Tongji canal and Yongji canal built in Sui Dynasty connected Qiantang River with Yangtze River, Huaihe River, Yellow River and Haihe River, forming a grand canal with Luoyang as the center and fan-shaped to northeast and Southeast.

After continuous transformation and management, the Jiangnan canal now flows from southern Jiangsu to Zhejiang and has three routes: East, middle and West. The east line is the ancient canal line, from Pingwang to Hangzhou via Jiaxing, Shimen, Chongfu, Tangqi and wulintou; the middle line is from Pingwang to Hangzhou via Wuzhen, Lianshi, Xinshi, Tangqi and wulintou in Zhejiang; the west line is from Zhenze in Jiangsu to Zhejiang via Nanxun, Huzhou, Linghu, Deqing and wulintou in Hangzhou. The above three lines are connected with passenger and cargo ships. Based on the length of the east line, the total length is 323.8 km. Most of the waterway is 2m deep and 20m wide at the bottom. With gentle flow and abundant flow, it is the busiest channel for transportation of the Beijing Hangzhou canal.

In the 1980s, the shiplock was built in Sanbao, Hangzhou, and the communication project between the Jiangnan canal and the Qiantang River was built, so that it was connected with the Hangzhou Ningbo canal through the Qiantang River, and the comprehensive functions of shipping, irrigation, flood control and drainage, water for residents, aquaculture and Tourism resources were further developed.

characteristic

Jiangnan canal has four characteristics

running water

The Jiangnan canal is not like the Beijing Hangzhou Grand Canal to the north of Jining in Shandong, nor the Grand Canal of Sui and Tang Dynasties. These two sections of canals are dead, solidified, decayed, destroyed, and some even disappeared. It, the Jiangnan canal, is really alive.

This kind of "living" can be seen everywhere. It seems that we don't have to work hard to find it. It's everywhere, extending in all directions and developing very well. This kind of "living" is characterized by shipping. There are many ships, and they are never depressed. Most of them carry building materials and coal in bulk. There are no containers. The side of the ship is low, almost level with the river. The word "full load" can best summarize its carrying state. Some of them also form fleets, just like water trains. They are magnificent, full of air, and in the shape of a shuttle. You come and go, it looks good, and fully shows a busy scene.

In a sense, there is the Jiangnan canal, new Shanghai, new Pudong, new Changzhou and new Ningbo. In a word, there is a new Yangtze River Delta. It is no exaggeration at all. The tall buildings there are towering in the sky, and they are all made of stone and sand from the canal ships. It's been 30 years of luck, all the time, all the time! It's still going to be transported.

network

Jiangnan has been rich in water since ancient times. The Yangtze River Delta used to be a swamp and a world of water. There are many rivers, lakes, streams, swamps and wetlands there.

Walking in the south of the Yangtze River, I found that the place names are very strange, most of them are near the three point water or the local characters. This is not to be seen in the north.

There are so many place names with the characters beside the three dots of water: Zhu, gang, Xi, PU, Hu, Wan, Xun, bang, bin, Hu, Ze, he, Du, Tan, Yang, PU, and others with the characters of Tu, such as Ping, Bu, Tang, Di, Qi, Ba, dun, Dai, and Yan. For example, Liangzhu, Shajiabang, Nanxun, Qingpu, Hemudu, Xitang, Digang, these place names are all loud names. It means that there must have been a large area of water in ancient times.

Shaoxing has Dayu mausoleum. This ancient hero who is famous for water control is buried here. It has proved that the water here is very serious, flooding and making trouble constantly. We need to keep waterproof and fight against the water. At last, we have worked out a set of good water control strategies to turn harm into benefit and build Jiangnan into a land of fish and rice that can coexist with water peacefully.

In the process of water control, people continue to build dikes with earth dams, fill the land with earth in the middle of the water to form a rich water town, build ports and towns, and multiply here, giving birth to Liangzhu civilization, Wuyue civilization, Southern Song civilization, Jiangsu Zhejiang modern civilization and Yangtze River Delta contemporary civilization.

This kind of structure is a typical combination of man-made and nature. It is the accumulation and inheritance of human culture. It mainly uses the natural water system. When necessary, at some nodes, inflection points and key parts, it digs some canals to form a large waterway network. This is the unique place of Jiangnan canal, which is different from the canal in the north. It is a unique cultural landscape.

It can be inferred that there may be the earliest and oldest canals and canal system in China. This is determined by the natural environment here, that is, more water. There are records in the literature that there is an ancient Han road built by Fu Chai, king of Wu in the spring and Autumn Period in Yangzhou, which is the oldest canal in China. It can be inferred that the practice of digging canals may have been carried out as early as the period of King Goujian of Yue or 2400 years ago in shuize of the south of the Yangtze River. Because it's natural. There's water everywhere. Of course, this view should be scientifically verified in local chronicles or archaeology.

traffic

In the south of the Yangtze River, river replacing road is another characteristic. There was almost no road here in ancient times, just a water lake. Ships are the main means of transportation. There are two kinds of connecting tools between land and land: the moving one is the ship, and the fixed one is the bridge. If you are near, you will take the bridge; if you are far away, or if you transport goods, you will rely on the ship. So Jiangnan is the world of boats and bridges.

Shaoxing used to have more than 5000 bridges, and a small new town had 72 bridges, far better than Venice, the capital of water! More bridges means more waterways. Not too far in the past, there were boats here. This is true in cities, especially in villages. At that time, the popularity of ships was just like that of bicycles and cars in many families. If you can get out of the door, whether it's the front door or the back door, it's a waterway or a river, you have to get on the boat, otherwise you can't move. At least, in Lu Xun's and Mao Dun's time, it was the same. The river is the road, the road is the river, and the canal is the road to the south of the Yangtze River.

change

The Jiangnan canal is alive, and another living sign is change. It is constantly changing, even changing beyond recognition. It seems that it has never been quiet and fixed for a moment, which is very unlike a cultural relic. The latter must have a fixed shape and age, absolutely unchanged.

The change of Jiangnan canal has its own characteristics: it is obviously changing in two directions which deviate from each other. One is to move towards Dali and become able to take big ships. This is the need of the times, especially the need of economic development. It can take 300 ton ships, 400 ton ships, 500 ton ships, or even 1000 ton ships. The river bed is constantly enlarged, widened, deepened, and dredged and diverted, so as to adapt to the bulk transportation of building materials and coal. The so-called diversion is to stay away from the downtown and try to go outside the city. The destination is no longer in the north, but in Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou and Ningbo. The other is to change to Xiaoli. Due to the rise of highways, especially expressways, general waterways have declined, or been filled or abandoned. In addition to the great arteries, many branches, especially capillaries, have been abolished Most of the bridges have been demolished and never compare with Venice. The number of bridges in the new town has been reduced from 72 to only 12. The canals passing through or around the city no longer have transportation functions. After being beautified, they have become tourism objects or leisure parks. In a word, these two kinds of changes deviated from each other, which made the appearance of Jiangnan canal change dramatically in just 20 to 30 years.

The result of the change is that only the main artery is left, or a new artery is built, while most of the branches and the microvascular water network disappear.

Highlights

Unique Jiangnan transportation

Chinese PinYin : Jiang Nan Yun He