The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal starts from Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province in the south and ends at Beiguan, Tongxian County, Beijing in the north, with a total length of 1794 km. It runs through six provinces and cities and flows through five major water systems: Qiantang River, Yangtze River, Huaihe River, Yellow River and Haihe River. Its excavation has gone through three historical stages: in 486 BC, Fu Cha, the king of Wu, first dug a gully in Yangzhou, connecting the Yangtze River and Huaihe River. By Yang Di in the 7th century and Yuan Dynasty in13rd century, two large-scale canals were dug, and finally this artery connecting the north and south water transport in China was built.
The sections from Tianjin to Tongxian, Beiguan and Zhangjiawan are called the North Canal, also known as the Luhe, with a total length of 186 km. Tonghui River, from Tongxian to Beijing, was designed and built by Guo Shoujing, a great water conservancy expert and astronomer, in the early Yuan Dynasty. Because Beijing is higher than Tongxian, five gates have been built on Tonghui River to control the water level, so that big ships from the south can reach Beijing Jishuitan. At that time, Jishuitan was full of water and became a big port for north-south water transportation. The nearby market is unprecedentedly prosperous. Since the opening of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal for hundreds of years, it has played an important role in promoting the economic and cultural exchanges between the north and the south of the Yangtze River and solving the problems of transferring grain from south to north.
However, since the19th century, due to the opening of the North-South shipping and the opening of the Jinpu Railway, the Yellow River diverted to block the middle of the canal, and some sections of the river were suspended. Only the first line of Jiangsu and Zhejiang remained unimpeded and became a tourist hotline. In order to meet the needs of the rapid development of modern tourism in China, in recent years, the Grand Canal tourist area and memorial hall have been built at the intersection of four rivers, such as the North Canal and Wenyu River in Tongxian County, Beijing, that is, the ruins of the ancient canal in Tongzhou Beiguan and Zhangjiawan, so that the vast number of Chinese and foreign tourists can see the charming charm of the former Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal here.
The capital of the Yuan Dynasty was Dadu (now Beijing), so the original Grand Canal could not be used as a route for transporting grain. At the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, the waterway route was: from the Yangtze River to the Huaihe River, then back to the Yellow River (at this time, the Yellow River turned from Henan to the southeast to seize the Huaihe River into the sea), arrived in Zhongluan Town, fengqiu county, Henan Province, abandoned the ship and landed, changed to land transportation, took 180 miles to Qimen Town, then changed to water transportation, and took a boat from Yu He (now Weihe River) to zhi gu (now Tianjin) and reached Dadu. Obviously, this water route is time-consuming and laborious. In order to change this situation, the Yuan government first considered how to use the Surabaya waterway flowing from north to south. 1283 Jeju River was dug from Jeju (now Jining) to Anshan. From Jeju to the south, you can use Surabaya to navigate. 1289, Huitong River from Anshan to the end of the river was dug in Linqing, so that the water ships from Jianghuai could reach zhi gu directly by water. 1293, the Yuan government completed the Tonghui River from Tongzhou to Dadu. At this point, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal has been completed, and it is no longer a problem to directly deliver water to the metropolis. The only problem with this canal is that the section from Xuzhou to Huaiyin was transported by the Yellow River, which is quite a big problem.
At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the Huitong River silted up. After the Ming capital moved from Nanjing to Beijing, the contradiction became prominent. 14 1 1 year, the Ming government resumed the Huitong River and initially resumed the north-south water transport. However, the lower reaches of the Yellow River often burst, the river moved northward, and Huitong River was washed away again and again, so this waterway route is not completely reliable. During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, he was determined to solve the problem completely by implementing the policy of "avoiding the Yellow River and changing transportation". A new road was dug in the east of the canal from below Nanyang Town, Yutai County, Shandong Province, to avoid the breach of the Yellow River. 1566, 1605 Nanyang New River and Hesui River were opened one after another. During the reign of Kangxi in the early Qing Dynasty, the river was opened again. In this way, from the Ming Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, after more than 100 years of efforts, the Yellow River was finally avoided, making the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal all artificially dug rivers.
From north to south, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is divided into seven sections: Tonghui River, North Canal, South Canal, Shandong Canal, Middle Canal, Li Canal and Jiangnan Canal, with a total length of 1.794 km. It flows through six provinces and cities, including Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and connects five major water systems, namely Haihe River, Yellow River, Huaihe River, Yangtze River and Qiantang River. Make the north-south water transport unimpeded.
The successful excavation of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is a pioneering work in China's water transport history and canal history, which is of great significance. During most of the Ming and Qing dynasties, due to the grain transportation formed by the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, the rule of the dynasty was consolidated and strengthened, and the economic and cultural exchanges between the North and the South also developed. From north to south, a series of industrial and commercial cities such as Tongzhou, Dezhou, Linqing, Jining, Huaiyin, Huai 'an, Yangzhou, Zhenjiang, Suzhou, Jiaxing and Hangzhou have risen or further prospered, and some ancient cultural cities have revived. Until modern times, the Canal Valley became the most developed area in China. It was not until the end of 19 that the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal gradually lost its former elegance with the rise of railways and shipping.
Both the Sui Grand Canal and the later Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal are unique in the history of canal engineering in the world. It is difficult to compare with other famous canals in the world in terms of time and length. The total length of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is 1.794 km, the Panama Canal is over 80 km, and the Suez Canal 1.60 km. The Grand Canal of Sui Dynasty was opened in the early 7th century, and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal was completed in16th century, while the Panama Canal and Suez Canal were not opened until19th and 20th centuries.
The excavation of the Grand Canal is also a miracle in the history of architectural engineering. It has to cross several large rivers and cross complex areas such as mountains and plains, and the technical problems it encounters are unimaginable. There were no precision instruments and engineering machinery in ancient times, and such a huge and complicated project proved that the intelligence of our people was unparalleled.
Today, the ancient canal continues to play a role. Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces have dredged or are dredging canal sections again, and Hebei and Shandong sections will be rehabilitated in the future. The ancient canal will be rejuvenated and its economic and cultural value will be re-recognized and utilized.