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The Grand Canal: a world wonder
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THE Grand Canal, also called the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, is one of the oldest canals in the world.
This ancient artificial river is an immense engineering achievement — it is 1,797 kilometers long and has a history more than 2,500 years.
It was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2014.
It flows through Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shandong and Heibei provinces and Beijing and Tianjin, connecting a vast river network including the Haihe River, the Yellow River, the Huaihe River, the Yangtze River and the Qiantang River. It was based on an important riverway canalized by Qin Shi Huang (259-210 BC), in Jiaxing in Zhejiang Province, which became a major waterway of the Jiangnan region — the south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.
The Grand Canal has been rebuilt three times, and was at its most prosperous in the Tang (AD 618-907) and Song (960-1279) dynasties.
It was a vital connection between the political, economic and production centers of several river basins, delivering goods, supplies and communications from across the country to the capital.
Origins
The Grand Canal began as a transport and logistics system for the military in the late Spring and Autumn period (770-476 BC) in Jiangsu Province.
During the Wei, Jin and Southern and Northern dynasties (AD 220-589), society was instable and disordered, leading to economic recession in northern China.
Over that period, China’s economic center shifted to the south from the north. After the unification of the country in the Sui Dynasty (AD 581-619), whose capital was located in Chang’an in today’s Xi’an in Shaanxi Province, the Grand Canal was extended in Zhejiang and southern Jiangsu provinces for both political and economic purposes.
During this period, the canal was not a continuous, man-made canal but a collection of often non-contiguous artificial cuts and canalized or natural rivers.
During the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), the capital was moved to Dadu in today’s Beijing, eliminating the need for the canal arm flowing west to Luoyang and Kaifeng, thus the navigation channel of the Grand Canal was transformed.
A section was dug across the foothills of the Shandong massif, shortening the canal by about 700 kilometers and linking Hangzhou and Beijing with a direct north-south waterway for the first time.
During the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, the Grand Canal was the major north-south waterway and transport artery and was thus well maintained.
The canal was renovated by successive reigns and dynasties because of its political, economic and military importance.
Grain transport culture
The grain transport culture — land, sea and rivers and other waterways — had a great impact on the political, economic and cultural development of the country.
It brought more trade opportunities, connected the economies of the north and south and was an important communication channel, boosting prosperity and stability in the areas it served.
As the canal culture grew, so did related rituals and festivals such as the Kai Cao (open water transportation of grain) Festival.
This festival began as a sacrificial ritual but evolved into an entertainment festival.
It was to celebrate the arrival of the first batch of official grain and was held on the first day of the third month of the lunar calendar in Tongzhou, Beijing, the northern start of the canal.
The canal became bustling and crowded as people gathered around the hundreds of grain ships.
Canal culture
The construction and development of the Grand Canal also boosted cultural richness and diversity, influencing the lifestyles and culture of people living and working along the canal.
Constructions along the canal, such as guide halls, ports, wharfs, bridges, locks and yamen (traditional administrative offices), were built. Many people depended on fishing, often living aboard their boats.
The canal culture also included harvest prayer ceremonies and the arts, such as the haozi (labor songs), sung during diking or damming. These plain but powerful songs encouraged laborers as they worked on the canal and its infrastructure.
Revival and protection
As the Yellow River’s course changed and sediment built up, voyages were suspended in the main northern section between Shandong Province and Beijing in the 1970s.
Some sections even dried out altogether. But, valuing the canal’s history and its cultural importance, the government has embarked on the daunting task of restoring navigation along the whole canal.
The restored northern section is expected to officially reopen in 2020.
Cities along the waterway are also working to preserve its heritage.
In 2004, the first canal museum, the Museum of the Grand Canal of China, was established in the ancient and important canal city of Liaocheng in Shandong Province.
The Grand Jing-Hang Canal Museum opened in Hangzhou in 2006. The Hangzhou government is working hard to protect the World Heritage site and its history through projects such as developing cultural tourist routes, rebuilding historical blocks around the museum area, revivifying the ancient lanes culture, and hosting temple fairs.
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