The Grand Canal starts from Beijing in the north and ends in Hangzhou in the south, and runs through Haihe River, Yellow River, Huaihe River, Yangtze River and Qiantang River, connecting these five major water systems. It flows through six provinces and cities, including Beijing, Hebei, Tian Jian, Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang. The total length of the Grand Canal is 1794 km, and the current navigation mileage is only 883 km. It is the earliest man-made river with the largest project and the longest route in the world. In the history of the development of the Chinese nation, it has made great contributions to the development of North-South traffic and the communication of economic and cultural ties between North and South. It is ten times longer than the Suez Canal (1859, opened to traffic in 1869, with a total length of 170km) and is ten times longer than the Panama Canal connecting the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean (188 1 year, opened to traffic in 1920).
The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is also called the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. After more than 2,000 years of vicissitudes, fate has turned from prosperity to decline. It used to be the lifeblood of the country and maintained the prosperity of the feudal dynasty; It is also a monument in the history of water conservancy projects in China, showing the wisdom of the ancients; It is also a river of blood and tears, which has soaked the sufferings of countless Li people.
The Beijing-Hangzhou Canal is a great project that all China people are proud of. The life of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal is tortuous and long. After many times of expansion and reconstruction, it has experienced more than 2000 years of wind and rain. It is like a recorder of the times, witnessing the glory and dullness of the past.
Today's Grand Canal is basically the last dredged river during the Qing Dynasty. From the Sui Dynasty to the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, the Grand Canal has been the main artery of north-south traffic. However, in the Republic of China, after the opening of the railway from Tianjin to Nanjing Pukou, the Grand Canal gradually lost the importance of north-south transportation and became a regional transportation network. Many river sections are silted up and suspended in dry season. In some periods, even Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang and other places are in urgent need of coal. In recent years, the Grand Canal has been paid more and more attention, especially in the planning of the South-to-North Water Transfer Project, which will play an important role. The renovation project of the Grand Canal is under way, and the dredging has achieved initial results.
The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal was dug in 486 BC and opened to traffic in A.D. 1293, lasting 1779. In the long years, it has experienced three major construction processes.
The first time was in the late spring and autumn period of the fifth century BC. Fu Cha, the king of Wu who ruled the lower reaches of the Yangtze River at that time, mobilized civilian workers to dig canals from Yangzhou to the northeast, through Sheyang Lake to Huai 'an, and into the Huaihe River (now the Canal). It was named "Hangou" because it passed through Hancheng, with a total length of170km, which introduced the Yangtze River water into the Huaihe River and became the earliest section of the Grand Canal.
As the longest, largest and oldest canals in the world, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal and the Great Wall are called the two major projects in ancient China. From Hangzhou in the south to Beijing in the north, it runs through five major water systems: Haihe River, Yellow River, Huaihe River, Yangtze River and Qiantang River. At present, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is in the process of applying for World Heritage.
Such a huge project of digging the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal was not completed at one time. It took three times to reach the present length. The final journey of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal can be divided into three sections, namely Tonghui River, North Canal, South Canal, Shandong Canal, China Canal, Li Canal and Jiangnan Canal. As the second "golden waterway" in China after the Yangtze River, the importance of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is self-evident.
Extended data:
Main functions of Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal
The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal changed the geographical environment of China, and formed an all-round water network from north to south and from east to west, which directly promoted the economic development along the canal and the rise of the city.
① Convenient transportation.
The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is a traffic artery connecting five major water systems, which greatly facilitates and saves the transportation of leather and wood from the north to the south, and grain, rice, tea and bamboo weaving from the south to the north.
② Agricultural development
The development of the Grand Canal is closely related to the construction of farmland water conservancy. With the implementation of canal digging, water diversion, water storage and water discharge projects, the canal with flood control irrigation as the main content has played a rapid and obvious role, and the water conservancy fields in the canal area have been greatly expanded, especially the polder fields in the south of the Yangtze River, silt fields in the north, various water conservancy fields and official fields and wasteland on both sides of the canal have increased obviously.
③ Business prosperity
The completion of the Grand Canal has greatly promoted the development of commerce and handicrafts in the canal area. In the coastal areas, especially the cities on both sides of the canal, all walks of life are thriving and the business atmosphere is still strong.
References:
Baidu encyclopedia-Beijing-Hangzhou grand canal
People's Network-Grand Canal: the longest artificial canal in the world.