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Grand Canal of China in Suzhou

The course of the Grand Canal

Grand Canal (China)From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Grand Canal (simplified Chinese: 大运河; traditional Chinese: 大運河; pinyin: Dà Yùnhé)in China, also known as the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal (simplified Chinese: 京杭大运河; traditional Chinese: 京杭大運河; pinyin: Jīng Háng Dà Yùnhé) is the longest canal or

artificial river in the world.[1] Starting at Beijing, it passes through Tianjin and the provinces ofHebei, Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the city of Hangzhou. The oldest parts of the canaldate back to the 5th century BC, although the various sections were finally combined during theSui Dynasty (581–618 CE).

The total length of the Grand Canal is 1,776 km (1,104 mi). Its greatest height is reached in the

mountains of Shandong, at a summit of 42 m (138 ft).[2] Ships in Chinese canals did not havetrouble reaching higher elevations after the pound lock was invented in the 10th century, during

the Song Dynasty (960–1279), by the government official and engineer Qiao Weiyo.[3][4] Thecanal's size and grandeur won it the admiration of many throughout history, including theJapanese monk Ennin (794–864), the Persian historian Rashid al-Din (1247–1318), the Korean official Choe Bu (1454–1504) and the Italian

missionary Matteo Ricci (1552–1610).[5][6]

Historically, periodic flooding of the adjacent Yellow River threatened the safety and functioning of the canal. During wartime the high dikes of theYellow River were sometimes deliberately broken in order to flood advancing enemy troops. This caused disaster and prolonged economichardships. Despite temporary periods of desolation and disuse, the Grand Canal furthered an indigenous and growing economic market in China'surban centers through all the ages since the Sui period.

Contents

1 History1.1 Early history1.2 Grand Canal in the Sui Dynasty1.3 Grand Canal from Tang to Yuan1.4 Ming Dynasty restoration1.5 Qing Dynasty and 20th century China1.6 Historical sections

1.6.1 Jia Canal1.6.2 Nanyang New Canal1.6.3 Huitong Canal1.6.4 Jizhou Canal1.6.5 Duke Huan's Conduit1.6.6 Yilou Canal

2 Modern course2.1 Jiangnan Canal2.2 Li Canal2.3 Zhong Canal2.4 Lu Canal2.5 Southern Canal2.6 Northern Canal and Tonghui River

3 Elevations4 Uses

4.1 Transportation4.2 South-North Water Transfer Project

5 Notable Travellers6 See also7 Notes8 References

8.1 English8.2 Chinese

9 External links

Coordinates: 30°15′41″N 120°13′26″E

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The Grand Canal, under Sui and Tang dynasties.

History

Early history

In the late Spring and Autumn Period (722–481 BC), King Fuchai of Wu, ruler of the State of Wu (present-day Suzhou), ventured north toconquer the neighboring State of Qi. He ordered a canal be constructed for trading purposes, as well as a means to ship ample supplies north in

case his forces should engage the northern states of Song and Lu.[7] This canal became known as the Han Gou (邗沟 "Han-country Conduit").[8]

Work began in 486 BC, south of Yangzhou to north of Huai'an in Jiangsu, and within three years the Han Gou had connected the Yangtze River to

the Huai River by means of existing waterways, lakes, and marshes.[7]

The Han Gou (邗沟) is known as the second oldest section of the later Grand Canal since the Hong Gou ('Canal of the Flying Geese', or 'Far-Flung

Canal') most likely preceded it.[9] It linked the Yellow River near Kaifeng to the Si and Bian rivers and became the model for the shape of the

Grand Canal in the north.[10] The exact date of the Hong Gou's construction is uncertain; it is first mentioned by the diplomat Su Qin in 330 BC

when discussing state boundaries.[8] The historian Sima Qian (145–90 BC) dated it much earlier than the 4th century BC, attributing it to the work

of Yu the Great; modern scholars now consider it to belong to the 6th century BC.[8]

Grand Canal in the Sui Dynasty

The sections of the Grand Canal we see today in Zhejiang and southern Jiangsu provinceswere in large part a creation of the Sui Dynasty (581-618), a result of the migration ofChina’s core economic and agricultural region away from the Yellow River valley in thenorth and toward the southern provinces. Its main role throughout its history was thetransport of grain to the capital. The institution of the Grand Canal by the Sui also obviatedthe need for the army to become self-sufficient farmers while posted at the northern frontier,

as food supplies could now easily be shipped from south to north over the pass.[11]

By the year 600, there were major build ups of silt on the bottom of the Hong Gou canal,

obstructing river barges whose drafts were too deep for its waters.[2] The chief engineer ofthe Sui Dynasty, Yuwen Kai, advised the dredging of a new canal that would run parallel to

the existing canal, diverging from it at Chenliu (Yanzhou).[2] The new canal was to pass notXuzhou but Suzhou, to avoid connecting with the Si River, and instead make a direct

connection with the Huai River just west of Lake Hongze.[2] With the recorded labor of fivemillion men and women under the supervision of Ma Shumou, the first major section of the

Grand Canal was completed in the year 605—called the Bian Qu.[12] The Grand Canal was

fully completed under the second Sui emperor, from the years 604 to 609,[13] first by linkingLuoyang to the Yangzhou (and the Yangzi valley), then expanding it to Hangzhou (south),

and to Beijing (north).[14] This allowed the southern area to provide grain to the northern

province, particularly to troops stationed there.[14] Running alongside and parallel to the

canal was an imperial roadway and post offices supporting a courier system. The government also planted an enormous line of trees.[11][12] The

history of the canal's construction is handed down in the book Kaiheji ('Record of the Opening of the Canal').[12]

The earlier dyke-building project in 587 along the Yellow River—overseen by engineer Liang Rui—established canal lock gates to regulate water

levels for the canal.[12] Double slipways were also installed in order to haul boats over when the difference in water levels were too great for the

flash lock to operate.[12]

Between 604 to 609, Emperor Yang Guang (or Sui Yangdi) of the Sui dynasty ordered a number of canals be dug in a ‘Y’ shape, from Hangzhouin the south to termini in (modern) Beijing and in the capital region along the Yellow River valley. When the canal was completed it linked the riversystems of the Qiantang River, the Yangtze River, the Huai River, the Yellow River, the Wei River and the Hai River. Its southern section, runningbetween Hangzhou and the Yangtze, was named the Jiangnan River (the river ‘South of the Yangtze’). The canal’s central portions stretched fromYangzhou to Luoyang; the section between the Yangtze and the Huai continued to the Shanyang River; and the next section connected the Huai tothe Yellow River and was called the Tongji Channel. The northernmost portion, linking Beijing and Luoyang, was named the Yongji Channel. Thisportion of the canal was used to transport troops to what is now the North Korean border region during the Goguryeo-Sui Wars (598–614). Afterthe canal's completion in 609, Emperor Yang led a recorded 105 km (65 mi) long naval flotilla of boats from the north down to his southern capital

at Yangzhou.[11]

It should be recognized that the Grand Canal at this time was not a continuous, man-made canal but a collection of often non-contiguous artificialcuts and canalised or natural rivers.

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Emperor Wen of Sui, who launched

the project of the Grand Canal,

painting by Tang artist Yan Liben

(600–673)

Emperor Yang of Sui, son of

Emperor Wen of Sui, who completed

the project, painting by Tang artist

Yan Liben (600–673)

The invention of the water-level-

adjusting pound lock in the 10th

century was done in response to

the necessity of greater safety for

the travel of barge ships along

rougher waters of the Grand

Canal.

Grand Canal from Tang to Yuan

Although the Tang Dynasty (618–907) capital at Chang'an was the most thriving metropolis of China in itsday, it was the city of Yangzhou—in proximity to the Grand Canal—that was the economic hub of the

Tang era.[15] Besides being the headquarters for the government salt monopoly and the largest pre-modern industrial production center of the empire, Yangzhou was also the geographical midpoint along

the north-south trade axis, and so became the major center for southern goods shipped north.[15] One ofthe greatest benefits of the canal system in the Tang Dynasty—and subsequent dynasties—was that itreduced the cost of shipping grain that had been collected in taxes from the Yangtze River Delta to

northern China.[16] Minor additions to the canal were made after the Sui period to cut down on traveltime, but overall no fundamental differences existed between the Sui Grand Canal and the Tang Grand

Canal.[17]

By the year 735, it was recorded that about 149,685,400 kilograms (165,000 short tons) of grain were

shipped annually along the canal.[18] The Tang government oversaw canal lock efficiency and built

granaries along route in case a flood or other disaster impeded the path of shipment.[18] To ensure smoothtravel of grain shipments, Transport Commissioner Liu Yan (in office from 763–779) had special river

barge ships designed and constructed to fit the depths of each section of the entire canal.[19]

After the An Shi Rebellion (755–763), the economy of northern China was greatly damaged and neverrecovered due to wars and to constant floodings of the Yellow River. Such a case occurred in the year858 when an enormous flood along the Grand Canal inundated thousands of acres of farmland and killed

tens of thousands of people in the North China Plain.[20] Such an unfortunate event could reduce thelegitimacy of a ruling dynasty by causing others to perceive it as having lost the Mandate of Heaven; thiswas a good reason for dynastic authorities to maintain a smooth and efficient canal system.

The city of Kaifeng grew to be a major hub, later becoming thecapital of the Song Dynasty (960–1279). Although the Tang andSong dynasty international seaports—the greatest beingGuangzhou and Quanzhou, respectively—and maritime foreigntrade brought merchants great fortune, it was the Grand Canalwithin China that spurred the greatest amount of economic activity

and commercial profit.[21] During the Song and earlier periods,barge ships occasionally crashed and wrecked along the ShanyangYundao section of the Grand Canal while passing the doubleslipways, and more often than not those were then robbed of the

tax grain by local bandits.[22] This prompted Qiao Weiyo, anAssistant Commissioner of Transport for Huainan, to invent a

double-gate system known as the pound lock in the year 984.[23]

This allowed ships to wait within a gated space while the watercould be drained to appropriate levels; the Chinese also builtroofed hangars over the space to add further protection for the

ships.[23]

Much of the Grand Canal south of the Yellow River was ruined forseveral years after 1128, when Du Chong decided to break the

dykes and dams holding back the waters of the Yellow River in order to decimate the oncoming Jurchen

invaders.[24] The Jurchen Jin Dynasty continually battled with the Song in the region between the Huai River and the Yellow River; this warfare led

to the dilapidation of the canal until the Mongols invaded in the 13th century and began necessary repairs.[19]

During the Mongol Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368) the capital of China was moved to Beijing, eliminating the need for the canal arm flowing west to

Kaifeng or Luoyang.[25] A summit section was dug across the foothills of the Shandong massif during the 1280s, shortening the overall length by asmuch as 700 km (making the total length about 1800 km) and linking Hangzhou and Beijing with a direct north-south waterway for the first time. As

in the Song and Jin era, the canal fell into disuse and dilapidation during the Yuan Dynasty's decline.[26]

Ming Dynasty restoration

The Grand Canal was renovated almost in its entirety between 1411 and 1415 during the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644). A magistrate of Jining,Shandong sent a memorandum to the throne of the Yongle Emperor protesting the current inefficient means of transporting 4,000,000 dan(428,000,000 liters) of grain a year by means of transferring it along several different rivers and canals in barge types that went from deep to shallow

after the Huai River, and then transferred back onto deep barges once the shipment of grain reached the Yellow River.[27] Chinese engineers built a

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The Yongle Emperor (r.

1402–1424) restored the

Grand Canal in the Ming

era.

after the Huai River, and then transferred back onto deep barges once the shipment of grain reached the Yellow River.[27] Chinese engineers built a

dam to divert the Wen River to the southwest in order to feed 60% of its water north into the Grand Canal, with the remainder going south.[28] Theydug four large reservoirs in Shandong to regulate water levels, which allowed them to avoid pumping water from local

sources and water tables.[28] Between 1411 and 1415 a total of 165,000 laborers dredged the canal bed in

Shandong and built new channels, embankments, and canal locks.[28]

The Yongle Emperor moved the Ming capital from Nanjing to Beijing in 1403. This move deprived Nanjing of itsstatus as chief political center of China. The reopening of the Grand Canal also benefited Suzhou over Nanjing sincethe former was in a better position on the main artery of the Grand Canal, and so it became Ming China's greatest

economic center.[29] The only other viable contender with Suzhou in the Jiangnan region was Hangzhou, but it was

located 200 km (120 mi) further down the Grand Canal and away from the main delta.[30] Even the shipwreckedKorean Choe Bu (1454–1504)—while traveling for five months throughout China in 1488—acknowledged that

Hangzhou served not as a competitor but as an economic feeder into the greater Suzhou market.[30] Therefore, theGrand Canal served to make or break the economic fortunes of certain cities along its route, and served as theeconomic lifeline of indigenous trade within China.

The scholar Gu Yanwu of the early Qing Dynasty (1644–1912) estimated that the previous Ming Dynasty had to

employ 47,004 full-time laborers recruited by the lijia corvée system in order to maintain the entire canal system.[31]

It is known that 121,500 soldiers and officers were needed simply to operate the 11,775 government grain barges in

the mid 15th century.[31]

Besides its function as a grain shipment route and major vein of river borne indigenous trade in China, the Grand Canal had long been a government-

operated courier route as well. In the Ming Dynasty, official courier stations were placed at intervals of 35 to 45 km.[31] Each courier station was

assigned a different name, all of which were popularized in travel songs of the period.[32]

Qing Dynasty and 20th century China

The Manchus invaded China in the mid 17th century, allowed through the northern passes by the Chinese general Wu Sangui once the Ming capitalat Beijing had fallen into the hands of a rebel army. The Manchus established the Qing Dynasty (1644–1912), and under their leadership the GrandCanal was overseen and maintained just as in earlier times.

In 1855, the Yellow River flooded and changed its course, severing the course of the canal in Shandong. This was foreseen by a Chinese official in1447, who remarked that the flood-prone Yellow River made the Grand Canal like a throat that could be easily strangled (leading some officials to

request restarting the grain shipments through the East China Sea).[28] Because of various factors – the difficulty of crossing the Yellow River, theincreased development of an alternative sea route for grain-ships, and the opening of the Tianjin-Pukou Railway and the Beijing-Hankou Railway –the canal languished and for decades the northern and southern parts remained separate. Many of the canal sections fell into disrepair, and someparts were returned to flat fields. Even today, the Grand Canal has not fully recovered from this disaster. After the founding of the People's Republicof China in 1949, the need for economic development led the authorities to order heavy reconstruction work.

The economic importance of the canal likely will increase because the governments of the Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces plan dredgingthat should increase shipping capacity by 40 percent by 2012.

Historical sections

As well as its present-day course, fourteen centuries of canal-building have left the Grand Canal with a number of historical sections. Some of thesehave disappeared, others are still partially extant, and others form the basis for the modern canal. The following are the most important, but do notform an exhaustive list.

Jia Canal

In 12BC, to solve the problem of the Grand Canal having to use 100 miles (160 km) of the perilous course of the Yellow River in Northern Jiangsu,a man named Li Hualong opened the Jia Canal. Named after the Jia River whose course it followed, it ran 90 miles (140 km) from Xiazhen (modernWeishan) on the shore of Shandong's Weishan Lake to Suqian in Jiangsu. The construction of the Jia Canal left only 60 miles (97 km) of YellowRiver navigation on the Grand Canal, from Suqian to Huai'an, which by 1688 had been removed by the construction of the Middle Canal by Jin Fu.

Nanyang New Canal

In 1566, to escape the problems caused by flooding of the Yellow River around Yutai (now on the western shore of Weishan Lake), the NanyangNew Canal was opened. It ran for 47 miles (76 km) from Nanyang (now Nanyang Town in the centre of Weishan Lake) to the small settlement ofLiucheng (in the vicinity of modern Gaolou Village, Weishan County, Shandong) north of Xuzhou City. This change in effect moved the Grand Canal

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The Jiangnan Canal

from the low-lying and flood-prone land west of Weishan Lake onto the marginally higher land to its east. It was fed by rivers flowing east-westfrom the borders of the Shandong massif.

Huitong Canal

North of the Jizhou Canal summit section, the Huitong Canal ran downhill, fed principally by the River Wen, to join the Wei River at the city ofLinqing. In 1289, a geological survey preceded its one-year construction. The Huitong Canal, built by an engineer called Ma Zhizhen, ran acrosssharply sloping ground and the high concentration of locks gave it the nicknames chahe or zhahe, i.e. 'the river of locks'. Its great number of feedersprings (between two and four hundred, depending on the counting method and season of the year) also led to it being called the quanhe or 'river ofsprings'.

Jizhou Canal

This, the grand canal's first true summit section, was engineered by the Mongol Oqruqči in 1238 to connect Jining to the southern end of the HuitongCanal. It rose to a height of 138 feet above the Yangtze, but environmental and technical factors left it with chronic water shortages until it was re-engineered in 1411 by Song Li of the Ming. Song Li's improvements, recommended by a local man named Bai Ying, included damming the riversWen and Guang and drawing lateral canals from them to feed reservoir lakes at the very summit, at a small town called Nanwang.

Duke Huan's Conduit

In 369 AD, General Huan Wen of the Eastern Jin dynasty connected the shallow river valleys of the Huai and the Yellow. He achieved this byjoining two of these rivers' tributaries, the Si and the Ji respectively, at their closest point, across a low watershed of the Shandong massif. HuanWen’s primitive summit canal became a model for the engineers of the Jizhou Canal.

Yilou Canal

The Shanyang Canal originally opened onto the Yangtze a short distance south of Yangzhou. As the north shore of the Yangtze gradually silted up tocreate the sandbank island of Guazhou, it became necessary for boats crossing to and from the Jiangnan Canal to sail the long way around theeastern edge of that island. After a particularly rough crossing of the Yangtze from Zhenjiang, the local prefect realised that a canal dug directlyacross Guazhou would slash the journey time and so make the crossing safer. The Yilou Canal was opened in 738 AD and still exists, though not aspart of the modern grand canal route.

Modern course

The Grand Canal nominally runs between Beijing and Hangzhou over a total length of 1,794 km (1,115 mi), however, only the section fromHangzhou to Jining is currently navigable. Its course is today divided into seven sections. From south to north these are the Jiangnan Canal, the LiCanal, the Zhong Canal, the Lu Canal, the South Canal, the North Canal, and the Tonghui River.

Jiangnan Canal

This southernmost section of the canal runs from Hangzhou in Zhejiang, where the canal connects with theQiantang River, to Zhenjiang in Jiangsu, where it meets the Yangtze. After leaving Hangzhou the canal passesaround the eastern border of Lake Tai, through the major cities of Jiaxing, Suzhou, Wuxi and Changzhoubefore reaching Zhenjiang. The Jiangnan (or ‘South of the Yangtze’) Canal is very heavily used by bargetraffic bringing coal and construction materials to the booming delta. It is generally a minimum of 100 metreswide in the congested city centres, and often two or three times this width in the countryside beyond. Inrecent years, broad bypass canals have been dug around the major cities to reduce ‘traffic jams’.

Li Canal

This ‘Inner Canal’ runs between the Yangtze and Huai'an in Jiangsu, skirting the Shaobo, Gaoyou andHongze lakes of central Jiangsu. Here the land lying to the west of the canal is higher than its bed while theland to the east is lower. Traditionally the Shanghe region west of the canal has been prone to frequentflooding, while the Xiahe region to its east has been hit by less frequent but immensely damaging inundationscaused by failure of the Grand Canal levees. Recent works have allowed floodwaters from Shanghe to bediverted safely out to sea.

Zhong Canal

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The canal in Jining City

The junction of the Lu Canal and

South Canal

This ‘Middle Canal’ section runs from Huai'an to Weishan Lake, passing through Luoma Lake and following more than one course, the result of theimpact of centuries of Yellow River flooding. After Pizhou, a northerly course passes through Tai'erzhuang toenter Weishan Lake at Hanzhuang bound for Nanyang and Jining (this course is the remnant of the NewNanyang Canal of 1566 – see below). A southerly course passes close by Xuzhou and enters Weishan Lakenear Peixian. This latter course is less used today.

Lu Canal

At Weishan Lake, both courses enter Shandong province. From here to Linqing, the canal is called the Lu or‘Shandong’ Canal. It crosses a series of lakes – Zhaoyang, Dushan and Nanyang – which nominally form acontinuous body of water. At present, diversions of water mean that the lakes are often largely dry land.North of the northernmost Nanyang Lake is the city of Jining. Further on, about 30 km north of Jining, thehighest elevation of the canal (38.5 m above sea level) is reached at the town of Nanwang. In the 1950s anew canal was dug to the south of the old summit section. The old summit section is now dry, while the newcanal holds too little water to be navigable. About 50 km further north, passing close by Dongping Lake, thecanal reaches the Yellow River. By this point waterless, it no longer communicates with the river. Itreappears again in Liaocheng City on the north bank where, intermittently flowing through a renovated stonechannel, it reaches the city of Linqing on the Shandong – Hebei border.

Southern Canal

The fifth section of the canal extends from Linqing to Tianjin, following the course of the canalised Wei River.Though one of the northernmost sections, its name derives from its position relative to Tianjin. The Wei Riverat this point is very heavily polluted, and drought and industrial water extraction have left it too low to benavigable. The canal, now in Hebei province, passes through the cities of Dezhou and Cangzhou. Althoughvisitors might see the canal as a deep waterway in these city centres, its depth is maintained by weirs and thecanal is in fact all but dry where it passes through the surrounding countryside. Finally, the canal joins the HaiRiver in Tianjin city centre, where it turns north-westward.

Northern Canal and Tonghui River

In Tianjin the canal heads northwest, for a short time following the course of the Yongding, a tributary of theHai River, before branching off toward Tongzhou on the edge of the municipality of Beijing. It is here that themodern canal stops and that a Grand Canal Cultural Park has been built. During the Yuan dynasty a further canal, the Tonghui River, connectedTongzhou with a wharf called the Houhai or ‘rear sea’ in central Beijing. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, however, the water level in the TonghuiRiver dropped and it was impossible for ships to travel from Tongzhou to Beijing. Tongzhou became the northern shipping terminus of the canal.Cargoes were unloaded at Tongzhou and transported to Beijing by land. The Tonghui river still exists as a wide, concrete lined storm-channel anddrain for the suburbs of Beijing.

Elevations

Though the canal nominally crosses the watersheds of five river systems, in reality the variation between these is so low that it has only a singlesummit section. The elevation of the canal bed varies from 1 m below sea level at Hangzhou to 38.5 m above at its summit. At Beijing it reaches 27m, fed by streams flowing downhill from the mountains to the west. The water flows from Beijing toward Tianjin, from Nanwang north towardTianjin, and from Nanwang south toward Yangzhou. The water level in the Jiangnan Canal remains scarcely above sea level (the Zhenjiang ridge is12 meters higher than the Yangzi River).

Uses

Transportation

From the Tang to Qing dynasties, the Grand Canal served as the main artery between northern and southern China and was essential for thetransport of grain to Beijing. Although it was mainly used for shipping grain, it also transported other commodities and the corridor along the canal

developed into an important economic belt. Records[citation needed] show that, at its height, every year more than 8,000 boats transported 4 to 6million dan (240,000–360,000 metric tons) of grain. The convenience of transport also enabled rulers to lead inspection tours to southern China. Inthe Qing Dynasty, emperors Kangxi and Qianlong made twelve trips to the south, on all occasions but one reaching Hangzhou.

The Grand Canal also enabled cultural exchange and political integration to mature between the north and south of China. The canal even made adistinct impression on some of China's early European visitors. Marco Polo recounted the Grand Canal's arched bridges as well as the warehousesand prosperous trade of its cities in the 13th century (though doubts have been cast on Polo’s claims). The famous Roman Catholic missionary

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Lingqu CanalTurfan water systemDujiangyan Irrigation System

Economy of the People's Republic ofChinaEconomic history of China (Pre-1911)Economic history of ChinaEconomic history of Modern China

Hydraulic engineeringHistory of Beijing

The Grand Canal at its northern

terminus at Houhai in Beijing.

Barges on the modern Grand Canal

("Li Canal" section) near Yangzhou

Matteo Ricci travelled from Nanjing to Beijing on the canal at the end of 16th century.

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the canal has been used primarily to transportvast amounts of bulk goods such as bricks, gravel, sand, diesel and coal. The Jianbi shiplocks on the Yangtzeare currently handling some 75,000,000 tons each year, and the Li Canal is forecast to reach 100,000,000tons in the next few years.

South-North Water Transfer Project

The Grand Canal is currently being upgraded to serve as the Eastern Route of the South-North WaterTransfer Project. Additional amounts of water from the Yangtze will be drawn into the canal in Jiangdu City,

where a giant 400 m3/s (14,000 cu ft/s) pumping station was already built in the 1980s, and is then feduphill by pumping stations along the route and through a tunnel under the Yellow River, from where it canflow downhill to reservoirs near Tianjin. Construction on the Eastern Route officially began on December27, 2002, and water is supposed to reach Tianjin by 2012. However, water pollution has affected theviability of this project.

Notable Travellers

In 1169, with China divided between the Jurchen-led Jin Dynasty in the north and the Southern Songdynasty in the south, the Chinese emperor sent a delegation to the Jurchen to wish their ruler well for theNew Year. A scholar-official named Lou Yue, secretary to the delegation, recorded the journey, much ofwhich was made upon the Grand Canal, and submitted his Diary of a Journey to the North to the

emperor on his return.[33]

In 1170 the poet, politician and historian Lu You travelled upon the Grand Canal from Shaoxing to the river Yangtze, recording his progress in a

diary.[34]

In 1488, the shipwrecked Korean scholar Choe Bu travelled the length of the Grand Canal on his way from Zhejiang to Beijing (and on to Korea),and left a detailed account of his trip.

In 1793, after a largely fruitless diplomatic mission to Jehol, a large part of Lord Macartney's embassy returned south to the Yangtze delta on the

Grand Canal.[35]

In 1995 Kevin Bishop and Annabel Roberts spent four months bicycling the entire route of the Grand Canal from Beijing to Hangzhou and on toHong Kong from September to December of that year, taking photographs and collecting information. The whole project took him four-and-a-half

years to complete before his book was published in 1997.[36]

In 2006, the travel-writer Liam D'Arcy Brown went one stage further in travelling on most of the canal which is still in water from Hangzhou to

Beijing using commercial barges.[37][38][39]

See also

Notes

1. ^ Hutchinson's Encyclopedia (http://encyclopedia.farlex.com/Grand+Canal) , Encarta(http://au.encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761572005/Grand_Canal_(China).html) . Archived (http://www.webcitation.org/5kwqBbXes) 2009-10-31.

2. ̂a b c d Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 307.

3. ^ Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 350–352

4. ^ Temple, Robert (2007). The Genius of China: 3,000 Years of Science, Discovery, and Invention (3rd edition). London: André Deutsch, pp. 218-9.ISBN 9780233002026.

5. ^ Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 308 & 313.

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6. ^ Brook, 40–51.

7. ̂a b Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 271–272.

8. ̂a b c Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 271.

9. ^ Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 269–270.

10. ^ Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 269.

11. ̂a b c Ebrey, Cambridge Illustrated History of China, 116.

12. ̂a b c d e Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 308.

13. ^ Ebrey, Cambridge Illustrated History of China, 114: « […] the Grand Canal, dug between 605 and 609 by means of enormous levies ofconscripted labour. »

14. ̂a b Ebrey, Cambridge Illustrated History of China, p115

15. ̂a b Benn, 46.

16. ^ Benn, 7.

17. ^ Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 309.

18. ̂a b Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 310.

19. ̂a b Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 311.

20. ^ Bowman, 105.

21. ^ Fairbank, 89.

22. ^ Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 350–351.

23. ̂a b Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 351.

24. ^ Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 266.

25. ^ Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 227.

26. ^ Brook, 46.

27. ^ Brook, 46–47.

28. ̂a b c d Brook, 47.

29. ^ Brook, 74–75.

30. ̂a b Brook, 75.

31. ̂a b c Brook, 48.

32. ^ Brook, 48–49.

33. ^ D'Arcy Brown, Liam, The Emperor's River: Travels to the Heart of a Resurgent China Eye Books, February 2010.

34. ^ Watson, Philip, Grand Canal, Great River (Frances Lincoln, 2007).

35. ^ Peyrefitte, Alan, The Collision of Two Civilisations (Harvill, 1993).

36. ^ Bishop, Kevin, China's Imperial Way (Odyssey, 1997).

37. ^ D'Arcy Brown, Liam (2010), The Emperor's River, Eye Books Ltd

38. ^ http://www.liamdarcybrown.co.uk/

39. ^ http://www.lonelyplanet.com/china/jiangsu/travel-tips-and-articles/66624

References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11thed.). Cambridge University Press.

English

Benn, Charles. (2002). China's Golden Age: Everyday Life in the Tang Dynasty. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-517665-0.Bishop, Kevin (1997). China's Imperial Way. Hong Kong: Odyssey.Bowman, John S. (2000). Columbia Chronologies of Asian History and Culture. New York: Columbia University Press.Brook, Timothy. (1998). The Confusions of Pleasure: Commerce and Culture in Ming China. Berkeley: University of California Press.ISBN 0-520-22154-0Carles, W.R. (1900). The Grand Canal of China. Shanghai: Journal of the North China Branch RAS, Vol. 31, pp. 102–115, 1896-1897volume, but actually published in 1900.Ebrey, Patricia Buckley (1999). The Cambridge Illustrated History of China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-66991-X (paperback).Fairbank, John King and Merle Goldman (1992). China: A New History; Second Enlarged Edition (2006). Cambridge: MA; London:The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-01828-1Gandar, Dominique (1903). Le Canal Imperial: Etude Historique et Descriptive. Shanghai: Imprimerie de la Mission Catholique. VarietesSinologiques No. 4.Garnett, J.W. (1907). Report by Mr. J.W. Garnett of a Journey through the Provinces of Shantung and Kiangsu. British ParliamentaryPapers, China No.1, CD3500. London: HMSO.Hinton, Harold C. (1956). The Grain Tribute System of China (1845-1911). Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Liao Pin, ed. (1987). The Grand Canal: An Odyssey. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press.Martin, W.A.P. (1897). A Cycle of Cathay.

3/2/13 Grand Canal (China) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

file:///E:/BOOKS/ENGINEERING/CIVIL ENGINEERING/project_CE/Grand Canal (China) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.htm 9/9

Needham, Joseph. (1986). Science and Civilization in China: Volume 4, Physics and Physical Technology, Part 3, Civil Engineeringand Nautics. Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd. ISBN 0-521-07060-0New China News Ltd. (1984). The Grand Canal of China. Hong Kong: South China Morning Post Ltd.Staunton, George (1797). An Authentic Account of an Embassy ...to the Emperor of China.

Chinese

京杭运河史, 姚汉源, 中国水利水电出版社, 北京 1998年; A History of the Grand Canal, Yao Hanyuan, Waterpub, Beijing 1998中国运河, 竞放、杜家驹 主编, 金陵书社 1997年； China's Canal, Jing Fang and Du Jiaju eds, Jinling Book Society, 1997.

External links

Map of the Grand Canal (http://encarta.msn.com/map_701512661/Grand_Canal_(China).html)The Reinvigoration of the Grand Canal (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/24/world/asia/24canal.html?ex=1342929600&en=afc9b18561dd4adf&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss)The Grand Canal in Shandong Province (http://yangziman.blog.com/2011/10/04/the-grand-canal-in-shandong-province/)

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