the grand canal

the grand canal

The Grand Canal is a great project on the eastern plain of China. It is a great water conservancy building created by the ancient Chinese working people. It is the longest canal in the world and the earliest and largest canal in the world.

The Grand Canal was first built in 486 BC, including the Sui and Tang Grand Canal, the Beijing Hangzhou Grand Canal and the Zhedong Grand Canal. It is 2700 km long and spans more than 10 latitudes of the earth. It spans eight provinces and municipalities directly under the central government, including Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong, Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu and Zhejiang. It runs through the North China Plain and reaches five major water systems, namely the Haihe River, the Yellow River, the Huaihe River, the Yangtze River and the Qiantang River It is the main artery of transportation between North and South in ancient China. Up to now, the Grand Canal has a history of more than 2500 years.

On June 22, 2014, the Grand Canal was approved to be listed in the world heritage list at the 38th World Heritage conference, becoming the 46th world heritage project in China. The Grand Canal Heritage finally included in the scope of World Heritage application is distributed in 2 municipalities, 6 provinces and 25 prefecture level cities in China. Typical river sections and important heritage sites of each reach are selected for the declared series of heritage, including 27 River heritage sections with a total length of 1011 km and 58 related heritage sites.

Construction background

In ancient times, there were two kinds of river transportation: natural river transportation and artificial canal transportation. Natural river transportation has brought convenience to human transportation, which is labor-saving and economical. As long as the water power is competent, it can reach all parts of the coast with the waterway. Although the land transportation is not limited by the river and can be carried out at will, except kaipingdi, there are difficulties in transportation everywhere in the hills and gullies. Moreover, in terms of transportation volume, there is a big gap between vehicles and ships, and the force is also very different. Compared with the two, naturally, the river transportation has great advantages. Of course, the transportation of natural river also has its shortcomings and shortcomings, that is, the river depends on the terrain, and the river has certain flow direction and process problems, so the area far away from the river is not convenient. In this way, there is a method of artificial digging canal to supplement the shortage of natural river.

Construction history

From the spring and Autumn period to the southern and Northern Dynasties

At the end of the spring and Autumn period, the state of Wu excavated three canals, XuXi, Hangou and Huanggou. After the completion of the excavation of XuXi, the Wu people could go from Taihu Lake in the East, along XuXi River in the west, until now near Wuhu, and then into the Yangtze River, and then across the Yangtze River to the north, along the gate water to Chaohu Area, and into the Huaihe River in the north.

Fu Chai was the last king of the state of Wu in the spring and Autumn period. He was the "first shovel" digger of the Grand Canal.

During the spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period, the vassal states attacked and merged with each other, the wars were continuous, and the military transportation was very frequent. At that time, there was no waterway between the Yangtze River and the Huaihe River, but only from the Yangtze River to the sea. In this way, not only did he have a long voyage, but also the sea was windy and stormy, so he was easy to lose his opportunity. In order to March safely and conveniently, shorten the route of quartermaster, Fu Chai decided to build Hancheng on Shugang, dig Hangou at the foot of Shugang, and open the waterway between Jianghuai River and Huaihe River. For the labor scenes of building Hancheng and digging Hangou, the history books use four words to describe them, namely "lifting up like a cloud", which shows that they are very powerful.

Fu Chai, the king of Wu, mobilized migrant workers to dig Hangou, which was named "Hangou" because he passed through Hancheng. Wuhangou starts from under the ancient Hancheng City in the southeast of Yangzhou city. Deep ditches are dug under the city to lead the water of Changjiang River to the north. The canal runs northward between Wuguang Lake (now Wu'an Lake) and Luyang Lake (now Yang Lake). It enters Bozhi Lake in the northeast, then Sheyang Lake, and finally from Sheyang Lake to Beishen weir, which is five li north of Antong river. The total length is about 400 Li.

Hangou connected the Yangtze River and Huaihe River and became the first section of the Grand Canal in Sui and Tang Dynasties. The excavation of Hangou is the earliest section of the Grand Canal in history, which is considered to be the beginning of the Grand Canal. Yangzhou and Huai'an, two famous historical and cultural cities, were born because of the excavation of Hangou. Since then, Hangou has been an important part of the Grand Canal and is still an important waterway.

At the same time, shanyingu canal, the predecessor of Zhedong canal, was basically formed, which can be said to be one of the earliest man-made canals built in the history of China and still well preserved.

Fu Chai, the king of Wu, built Hancheng and dug Hangou, which objectively played a great role in the political, economic and cultural exchanges between the north and the south in eastern China at that time, and also played an important role in the later city construction of Yangzhou and the development of economy, culture, shipping and transportation.

After Wu opened Hangou, the Huanggou canal between Shang (song) and Lu was dug further north to connect Sishui and Jishui. After Huanggou was excavated, Fu Chai, the king of Wu, could go north along Hangou to huaishui, into Sishui, into Jishui, and up to Huangchi in the west, competing with Qi and Jin for the position of alliance leader.

The first emperor of Qin Dynasty dug a canal between Hunan and Guangxi to transport water. In Sichuan, Li Bing left the army, and Zheng State in Guanzhong served as Zheng State canal, which not only irrigated farmland, but also provided water transportation.

In the Han Dynasty, a channel was dug to lead the Weihe River from Chang'an to the Yellow River. Ban Gu's Xidu Fu says that the channel "sails in Shandong, controls and diverts Huaihe River and lake, and communicates with the sea". In the Han Dynasty, Wang Jing managed the bianqu canal, "ten li and one water gate, which made it more difficult for the canal to flow back and forth, and there was no danger of collapse and leakage.". In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Yang canal was dug, and Cao Zhou could enter the river from Bian, and from the river back to Yang canal to Luoyang. Chunmen was built to transport Chang man Cang. During the period of Emperor Shun of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Chen Min repaired Hangou and opened a new road. He changed the road from Jiangdu to Jinhu through fanlianghu, and then from Jinhu to Huaihe directly from the end of the river, which avoided the danger of wind and waves in Sheyang Lake and brought great convenience to water transportation. In the Han Dynasty, Lingqu was often maintained.

In the 140th year of Yonghe reign of Emperor Shun of Han Dynasty, Jianhu Lake was built by Ma Zhenna, the prefect of Kuaiji County, who was the water source of the thirty-six sources of Shanhui plain. In the west, it crosses the Xixiaojiang River to the Xixing ferry by the Qiantang River, connecting the Qiantang River waterway. In the East, it passes through Baimi weir and Cao'e weir to Cao'e River, passes Shangyu in the East, reaches Mingzhou in the Yaojiang River, and in the northwest, Cao'e River leads to Hangzhou Bay waterway. The other reaches baimiyan, passes haoba to the south, and reaches Shengzhou and Tiantai along Cao'e River. Jianhu Lake is the oldest large-scale water storage project in the south of the Yangtze River in China. After the completion of the project, the water level will be raised and the facilities will be improved, making the shipping conditions more superior.

During the Wei, Jin, southern and Northern Dynasties, some local canals were dug, which played a positive role in the opening of the Grand Canal in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Cao successively excavated Baigou, Pinglu, Quanzhou, Xinhe and caoqu. Baigou was dug in the ninth year of Jian'an (204) of the Eastern Han Dynasty. At the place where Qi water entered the Yellow River, dafangmu made a weir to prevent Qi water from entering the ancient Yellow River in the spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period. With Qi water, Dang water and Huan water as the upper sources, Baigou used the old Qinghe River which runs through the Hebei plain until now near Qingxian County to pour into Hutuo River. Pinglu canal was excavated in the 11th year of Jian'an (206). From the northeast of Qingxian County, the Hutuo River was diverted to the north of Jishui. Quanzhou canal was also excavated in the 11th year of Jian'an. It starts from Quanzhou County in the South (now the southwest of Wuqing in Tianjin). It is connected with Luhe River in the upper part and flows into Baoqiu water in the lower part. It is also excavated from the mouth of the gully to the East and flows into Rushui, which is called Xinhe.

Licaohu was dug in 213, the 18th year of Jian'an. It was dug to lead zhangshui from quzhounan, Hebei Province. From the east to the northwest of Daming, it flowed into Baigou, so as to communicate the water transportation between ye and the four sides. Therefore, it is famous for licaohu. With the excavation of Baigou, Pinglu, Quanzhou, Xinhe and licao canals, the canal network project connecting Hebei Plain has been completed, which facilitates waterway transportation in Hebei plain.

After the establishment of Wei Dynasty in the Han Dynasty, Cao Pi moved his capital to Luoyang. The canal facilities of Cao Wei mainly included building bianqu, digging Jiahou canal, Taolu canal and guangcao canal. Cao Cao once dredged the section from the upper reaches of bianqu to Suiyang, which is called Suiyang canal. In the second year of Zhengshi (241), Cao Wei reorganized bianqu, this time from upstream to downstream, so that it could be transported by boats. Du Yu wrote to Wang Jun, persuading him to lead the water army after destroying Wu, from the Yangtze River to the Huaihe River, from the Huaihe River to the bianqu River, from the bianqu River to the Yellow River, and back to the capital Luoyang.

The Jiahou canal was opened by Wei jiakui. It is recorded in Volume 15 of the annals of the three kingdoms that "(Jia Kui) suppressed Yan and Ru, built new ponds, cut off mountains and streams, built a small Yiyang pond, and connected the canal for more than 200 Li, which is also called Jiahou canal."

The old road is now in the northwest of Huaiyang, Henan Province, and later "crisscross" with other waterways. In the sixth year of Huangchu period (225), the Taolu canal was opened. According to Gu Zuyu's notes on history reading Fangyu, its old road was in the east of Yancheng county. Guangcao canal was excavated in 241, the second year of Zhengshi reign of emperor Xuandi of Wei Dynasty. It passed between Chen and CAI, so it was in the downstream of langdang canal. According to the records of the Three Kingdoms, guangcao canal was opened in the second year of Zhengshi reign. Every time something happened in the southeast, a large army prospered and sailed down to the Yangtze River and Huaihe River

Sun Quan dug a canal in the south, connecting huaishui in the west, Yunyang in the East, and pogangdu in the name. This canal is a water transportation network connecting the east of Nanjing today.

Huan Gong Du, also known as Huan Gong Gou, was excavated during the period of Huan Wen in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. In the fourth year of Taihe (369), Huan Wen led his troops to the northern expedition of the former Yan Dynasty, "the army took the second place in Hu Lu, attacked Murong Wei general Murong Zhong, won it, and entered the second place in Jinxiang. When the drought was high, the water channel was blocked, but more than 300 li of a huge field was chiseled to transport by boat, from clear water into the river.

Juyeze is located between Juye and Liangshan County,

Chinese PinYin : Da Yun He