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Visit the Residences of...
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Hangzhou's District of
The Grand Canal
Administrator:
Position is currently vacant
Connecting Beijing with Hangzhou, China's Grand Canal has been an important link in the economy for over 2000 years. 
C
hina's Grand Canal is the oldest and longest man-made canal in the world. Extending 1,795 km (1,115 miles) from Beijing south to Hangzhou, it links five rivers and has twenty-four locks and around sixty bridges. This ancient waterway has long served as a means of communication, commerce and cultural exchange between the northern and southern regions of eastern China, and aided in the defense and unification of the country.
At Hangzhou, the east bank of the canal acts as a levee which diverts the western waters into the Yangtse and is equipped with spillways for times of flood. There is another dike which regulates excess water along the west side which feeds into another canal. This allows floodwaters to be contained in a series of lakes that gradually drain into the surrounding countryside, making this a most fertile region. Over its history, the Grand Canal has been variously called Yu-ho (Imperial River), Yun-ho (Transport River), and Yunliang-ho (Tribute-bearing River). Marco Polo traveled on the Grand Canal in the 13th century, as did the Roman Catholic missionary Matteo Ricci toward the end of 16th century. History The construction of the Grand Canal was begun by Fu Chai, Duke of Wu, in 486 BCE, in part for the transport of soldiers. He dug the first section near Hangzhou to link the Yangtse River with the Huai River. This section was enlarged during the Qin dynasty in the third century CE, but it was Emperor Yangdi of the Sui dynasty (589-618) who put the greatest effort into the canal's expansion over six years of concentrated labor from 605 to 610. Yangdi conscripted six million peasant workers, both male and female, to further his plan. Fully half of these workers died of starvation, fatigue and disease, or were beaten to death by the overseers when they were not able to adequately perform the work. Yangdi's project opened a new branch to Louyang, where he had moved his capital in 605, and extended the canal north to Beijing providing a military supply route to the armies guarding the northern borders. The extension of the Grand Canal led to a greater economic unification of China and opened jobs for officials who were in charge of the maintenance and administration of the waterway. Though the political unity of the Sui regime enabled this public project, the money spent and the number of workers who died contributed to the relatively quick demise of the dynasty. The An Shi Rebellion during the Tang Dynasty (618-907) greatly disrupted the economy of northern China. This, combined with a period of massive flooding of the Yangtse River, made the Grand Canal the main route of transport of grains and silk from the south of China to the north. The Tang built an imperial road which ran beside the canal and established relay post stations along the way. Korean merchants and seamen were attracted to the prosperous route as well, establishing large settlements along the Grand Canal during the Tang dynasty. Kaifeng, which later became the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1279), was a major stop along on the canal. The rulers of the Yuan dynasty (1271-1368) moved their capital to Beijing, which removed the need for the Grand Canal to reach west to Kaifeng or Luoyang. From 1280 to 1283, a shortcut was made over Shandong province which shortened the length of the Grand Canal by 700km (435 statute miles), and set the present route of the Canal. In the middle of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) the canal was overhauled, and a series of fifteen locks was engineered in western Shandong. By this time the imperial transport army had grown to 15,000 boats and employed 160,000 soldiers who supplied the manpower to pull loaded barges when necessary. The successive improvements to the canal allowed the rulers to more easily conduct tours of inspection of their holdings to the south, enabling a greater control of their realm. For the next four hundred years the Grand Canal was well maintained but when the Yangtse River flooded and changed its course in the mid-19th century, it severed a portion of the Grand Canal in Shandong province. Because of increased rail facilities and the development of alternate sea routes, the Grand Canal fell into disrepair. After 1949, efforts were made to dredge and reconstruct the waterway, and today the central and southern sections are maintained and used mainly to transport coal from the mines in the Shandong and Jiangsu provinces. Other sections of the Grand Canal have suffered from a buildup of mud and the northernmost section has all but dried up. If you'd like to move into our district of the Grand Canal, consider buying a barge, houseboat, junk, or even a bamboo raft, and joining us in cruising this ancient waterway. In many places you will feel that you can almost reach out and touch the old stone dwellings which line the banks. You will be able to hoist your sails when the wind is right, or your vessel can be poled along, since the deepest parts of the canal are but nine feet. In some sections of the canal you can hire men who will tow your barge as they walk along the banks, or you might want to purchase a pair of water buffalo who can pull multiple barges which have been lashed together. The canal winds its way through the back sides of the towns and you will be afforded a unique view of life in China, far removed from the hustle and bustle of the more urban areas. You might even want to set yourself up as an entrepreneur along the canal, selling your wares from your boat or from the banks. View scenes along the Grand Canal Resources 
 City-builder:
Feiyan Zhou
The Discussions of The Grand Canal:
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