Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal

The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, also known as "The Grand Canal" was a great water project in ancient China. It runs from Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province in the south, via Jiangsu, Shandong, Hebei and Tianjin and finally ends at Tongxian County in north of Beijing. It also passes through five watercourses, the Hai, Yellow, Huai, Yangtze and Qiantang Rivers. At a length of 1,794 kilometers, the Grand Canal is the longest canal in the world. It is 21 times longer than the Panama Canal and 10 times longer than the Suez Canal.

The Grand Canal is also the oldest canal in the world. Its construction went through three historical periods. In 486 B.C., King Wu, Fu Chai had the canal excavated. Thereafter the Yangtze and Huai Rivers were connected during the reign of Sui Emperor Yangdi (569 - 618) and during the Yuan Dynasty in the 13th Century, thus finally completing the Grand Canal. 

The Grand Canal is known as the second Gold Watercourse after the Yangtze River for its irrigation of agricultural and industrial areas along the canal. Furthermore, rustic water towns, historical sites and the profound culture make the Grand Canal a distinctive cultural tourism area.

Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is the earliest and longest canal in the world with the maximum project work. It starts from Beijing (anciently Zhujun) to Hangzhou (anciently Yuhang) with the total distance of more than 1700 meters. Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal plays a great role in the development and exchange of economy and culture between southern China and northern China, especially in the aspect of the industrial and agricultural development in the canal line area. It is called the water great wall, when compared with the Great Wall. The areas the Grand Canal crossing include: Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei Province, Shandong Province, Jiangsu Province and Zhejiang Province. It links five great water system in China, that is, respectively, Haihe River, Yellow River, Huaihe River, Yangtze River and Qiantangjiang River.

The History of Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal

The form of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal generally comprised of three steps:
The first step: during the time of spring and autumn, King Fuchai(Fuchai was a famous king, his kingdom was also one of the superpowers at that time, his kingdom generally was located in the east of China, including current Shanghai, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Suzhou, and many developed cities in east area of China. He beat Yue Kingdom and lost his kingdom just for a classical beauty, Xishi, who was one of the four great beauties in ancient China) of Wu Kingdom opened Gangou for linking Yangtze River and Huaihe River, which became one section of Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. He also established the city,Yangzhou, in the north part of Yangtze River for water transportation management. 

The second step: it is the canal system created by Sui dynasty (581-618). Emperor Yang Guang ordered to further exploit Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal at this time generally was centralized with Luoyang, the East Capital at that time (and the west capital is Xian), it was comprised of three sections. The first section was called Yongjiqu Canal, which starting from Luoyang in south to Beijing in north; the second section was comprised of Tongjiqu Canal and Gangou. Tongjiqu Canal starts northward from Luoyang to Huaihe River in the southeast area, and Gangou was from Huaian to Yangzhou; the southern section was named Jiangnan River, which was north from Zhenjiang to Hangzhou in the south. Generally, Emperor Yang Guang in Sui Dynasty opened the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, only simply for appreciating Qionghua Flower, but indirectly it was greatly good for food transportation by water-channel from south to north. Thanks to Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, Yangzhou became the prosperous water city in southern China. 

The third step: it was operated in the period of Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal was lengthened and kept well. The ships or cargo-ships could directly arrive in Beijing by water. The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal in Yuan dynasty could be divided into seven sections. That is Huitong River, Beiyun River, Nanyun River, Luyun River, Zhongyun River, Liyun River and Jiangnan Canal section. Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal

Currently, the ship distance in Beiijng-Hangzhou Grand Canal is 1442 kilometers, mainly dispatched in Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is 16-times longer than Suez Canal and 33-times longer than Panama Canal

Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is a great project created by ancient working people. It is the living heritages of human. It is the second golden waterway, other than Yangtze River. Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal shows the marvelous achievement of Chinese ancient water conservancy, it leave us rich historical and cultural heritages and born many spotlighting cities and towns. It accumulates a huge batch of information on Chinese politics, economy, culture and society.

Thanks to Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, China’s southern and northern communication in the ancient time brought great help for southern economic development, and the agricultural produce can be widely transported to the north area by this golden waterway.

Nowadays, the local governments along the Grand Canal are working jointly to protect this living history. It is also on the way for World-Cultural-Heritage application. More traditional and historical sites and relics will be recovered. It will be also a golden travel waterway in the future.