Grand Canal of China
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The Grand Canal,which cuts a 2,700-kilometre-long course from Beijing in the north to Hangzhou in the south,is extolled as a great water conservancy project of ancient China.It is also one of the longest of its kind in the world.It took three major engineering campaigns to bring the canal to its present shape:
First,the predecessor to the canal was the 150-kilometre-long Hangou Ditch dug near present-day Yangzhou in 485 B.C.(towards the end of the Spring and Autumn Period)in the State of Wu to link the Yangtze with the Huai River.
Second,during 1st-6th year(650-610 A.D.)of the Dayi reign of the Sui Dynasty,a canal 2,700 kilometres in length and 3070 metres in width-known as the"Sui Emperor Yangdi's South-North Grand Canal"--was dug with the capital city of Luoyang in the middle to connect the Haihe,Yellow,Huai,Yangtze,and Qiantang rivers into a unified water shipping network.
Third,during the Yuan Dynasty(1206-1368),Beijing became the northern terminal of a 1,794-kilometre-long canal that flows all the way to Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province by way of Hebei,Shangdong and Jiangsu provinces.This canal,known in history as the"Beijing-hangzhou Grand Canal",was actually 900 kilometres shorter than its Sui-dynasty counterpart.Hence the difference between the South-Noth Grand Canal and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.
In 1949 the Chinese goverment conducted a large-scale refurbishment of the Grand Canal.Some of the zigzagging sections were straightened out,and a number of water conservancy and ship locks were added.Today,quite a few sections of this canal are large enough to accommodate large shipping fleets over 1,000 tons in capacity.The canal has also provided ample irrigation water for the farmlands on both sides.Cruise tours have been opened along the section that connects Hangzhou,Suzhou and Wuxi,to the delight of travellers from at home and abroad.
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