Daunting engineering feat made canal navigable
By Yao Minji |
December 12, 2012, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE Grand Canal of China flows from north to south through five cities in Shandong Province - Dezhou, Liaocheng, Tai'an, Jining and Zaozhuang. Dezhou is about an hour's train ride to Tianjin and Zaozhuang a three-hour train ride to Jiangsu's Suzhou City.
The Shandong canals, about midway between southern and northern terminals, were very active in ancient times, mainly transporting grain from south to north. Once small villages, these stops on the canal became busy wharves and trading centers.
Today, only the canals in Jining and Zaozhuang are still in use, mostly carrying coal and construction materials to southern cities. Shandong is second only to Shanxi Province in coal production, though in Zaozhuang and other areas, the mines are running out.
"In ancient times, there was nothing else, so the canal was very significant. The richest and most developed cities were along the canal. They were also magnets for arts, culture and places of ideas exchange," says Li Guangfang, deputy director and canal expert from the Jining Bureau of Cultural Heritage. "But since the very beginning, Shandong's canals were the most difficult to maintain."
Highest elevation
The elevation changes, making locks necessary, while the Yellow River frequently flooded the canals and blocked them with yellow silt.
"Jining marks the highest elevation of the entire canal and has always been the most important spot for maintaining the canal. Since the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), the emperor always kept the biggest canal management office and an army of workers in Jining to maintain the water flow," Li explains to Shanghai Daily.
Almost a third of all official grain for Beijing had to pass through Jining, making it a military, political, economic and cultural center. It became more important in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties.
The highest elevation in the entire canal was in Nanwang Town in suburban Jining, 38 meters above sea level, much higher than both more northern and southern canals, making it difficult to maintain.
It was Jining's local engineer Bai Yin who solved the problem. He designed a route to collect water from a nearby river at an even higher elevation; there he built a divider channeling the water both north and south. To maintain the level, he designed new canals, making four nearby rivers into reservoirs.
"Without this system, the canal would have halted here, in both directions," Li says.
The system has been long buried, but some original channels and facilities have been excavated and used as models to rebuild parts of the ancient system. The site will be built into a heritage park.
This system ensured stable canal operation, but because of geography and silt, it was still daunting to operate the canals elsewhere in the province, especially in the late Qing Dynasty.
"They were so difficult and costly to operate that as soon as rail became an alternative, they were quickly abandoned.
The canals in Shandong Province were first dug more than 2,000 years ago, by the same Wu Kingdom emperor who ordered the project of the Han Ditch in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, the basis for the entire canal.
The Wu Kingdom, in today's Jiangsu and Anhui provinces, had a strong navy. So when they fought all the way to Shandong Province, the emperor ordered canals to be dug to transport and supply his army for surprise attacks.
But it was in the Ming and Qing dynasties that canal towns became big cities.
Linqing, administered by Liaocheng City, was virtually unknown before the Ming Dynasty. But in the 15th century, the government set up one of the seven national tax bureaus to levy cargo taxes. It quickly became one of the biggest and most prosperous cities in the region, a regional trading center for cloth, silk and grain.
Dezhou, to the north of Linqing and near Hebei Province, also became a busy port.
The transformation of the canal took place in the late Qing Dynasty, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1855, the Yellow River had a significant change in course, which flooded river banks and canals. At the time, the government was struggling with many domestic and international issues and could no longer afford to repair and operate the canals.
Grain transport
Railways appeared at about this time, instantly becoming a desirable alternative to the canals. It was also around that time that the Qing emperors were forced by foreign troops to waive their edict barring private seagoing vessels.
"The government also stopped collecting tax in the form of grain. Instead, they collected currency, which were much lighter and easier to carry. So basically, the canal's grain transport function gradually ceased around 1905," Li adds.
Some canals were immediately abandoned and the channels were buried in silt from the Yellow River. But the canals in Jining and Zaozhuang were still quite active, transporting coal to developing southern cities, which in need of resources. At the time, foreign coal was used in most places, but the Zaozhuang coal was competitive in price.
"Outside Shandong, Zaozhuang is little known, but back then, it was big and supplied coal all over the country and overseas tions through canals, rail and ocean shipping," says Zhou Chuancheng, director of Zaozhuang's Bureau of Cultural Heritage.
The Zhongxing Coal Mine Co founded in 1878 was one of China's first privately owned companies. Both the company and canal were at their peak in the 1920s and 30s and the company built a short rail line to the canal in Tai'erzhuang. It had its own shipping fleet with dozens of barges and ocean-going vessels.
Today Zaozhuang's coal deposits have been largely depleted, but coal and sand from elsewhere in the province are still loaded onto southbound barges.
The Shandong canals, about midway between southern and northern terminals, were very active in ancient times, mainly transporting grain from south to north. Once small villages, these stops on the canal became busy wharves and trading centers.
Today, only the canals in Jining and Zaozhuang are still in use, mostly carrying coal and construction materials to southern cities. Shandong is second only to Shanxi Province in coal production, though in Zaozhuang and other areas, the mines are running out.
"In ancient times, there was nothing else, so the canal was very significant. The richest and most developed cities were along the canal. They were also magnets for arts, culture and places of ideas exchange," says Li Guangfang, deputy director and canal expert from the Jining Bureau of Cultural Heritage. "But since the very beginning, Shandong's canals were the most difficult to maintain."
Highest elevation
The elevation changes, making locks necessary, while the Yellow River frequently flooded the canals and blocked them with yellow silt.
"Jining marks the highest elevation of the entire canal and has always been the most important spot for maintaining the canal. Since the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), the emperor always kept the biggest canal management office and an army of workers in Jining to maintain the water flow," Li explains to Shanghai Daily.
Almost a third of all official grain for Beijing had to pass through Jining, making it a military, political, economic and cultural center. It became more important in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties.
The highest elevation in the entire canal was in Nanwang Town in suburban Jining, 38 meters above sea level, much higher than both more northern and southern canals, making it difficult to maintain.
It was Jining's local engineer Bai Yin who solved the problem. He designed a route to collect water from a nearby river at an even higher elevation; there he built a divider channeling the water both north and south. To maintain the level, he designed new canals, making four nearby rivers into reservoirs.
"Without this system, the canal would have halted here, in both directions," Li says.
The system has been long buried, but some original channels and facilities have been excavated and used as models to rebuild parts of the ancient system. The site will be built into a heritage park.
This system ensured stable canal operation, but because of geography and silt, it was still daunting to operate the canals elsewhere in the province, especially in the late Qing Dynasty.
"They were so difficult and costly to operate that as soon as rail became an alternative, they were quickly abandoned.
The canals in Shandong Province were first dug more than 2,000 years ago, by the same Wu Kingdom emperor who ordered the project of the Han Ditch in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, the basis for the entire canal.
The Wu Kingdom, in today's Jiangsu and Anhui provinces, had a strong navy. So when they fought all the way to Shandong Province, the emperor ordered canals to be dug to transport and supply his army for surprise attacks.
But it was in the Ming and Qing dynasties that canal towns became big cities.
Linqing, administered by Liaocheng City, was virtually unknown before the Ming Dynasty. But in the 15th century, the government set up one of the seven national tax bureaus to levy cargo taxes. It quickly became one of the biggest and most prosperous cities in the region, a regional trading center for cloth, silk and grain.
Dezhou, to the north of Linqing and near Hebei Province, also became a busy port.
The transformation of the canal took place in the late Qing Dynasty, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1855, the Yellow River had a significant change in course, which flooded river banks and canals. At the time, the government was struggling with many domestic and international issues and could no longer afford to repair and operate the canals.
Grain transport
Railways appeared at about this time, instantly becoming a desirable alternative to the canals. It was also around that time that the Qing emperors were forced by foreign troops to waive their edict barring private seagoing vessels.
"The government also stopped collecting tax in the form of grain. Instead, they collected currency, which were much lighter and easier to carry. So basically, the canal's grain transport function gradually ceased around 1905," Li adds.
Some canals were immediately abandoned and the channels were buried in silt from the Yellow River. But the canals in Jining and Zaozhuang were still quite active, transporting coal to developing southern cities, which in need of resources. At the time, foreign coal was used in most places, but the Zaozhuang coal was competitive in price.
"Outside Shandong, Zaozhuang is little known, but back then, it was big and supplied coal all over the country and overseas tions through canals, rail and ocean shipping," says Zhou Chuancheng, director of Zaozhuang's Bureau of Cultural Heritage.
The Zhongxing Coal Mine Co founded in 1878 was one of China's first privately owned companies. Both the company and canal were at their peak in the 1920s and 30s and the company built a short rail line to the canal in Tai'erzhuang. It had its own shipping fleet with dozens of barges and ocean-going vessels.
Today Zaozhuang's coal deposits have been largely depleted, but coal and sand from elsewhere in the province are still loaded onto southbound barges.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
