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Beijing Travel Guide-Architecture
The Grand Canal is the longest and oldest man-made water way in this planet. It is 1794 km long, flowing all the way from Beijing in the north to Hangzhou in the south of China. It crosses Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu and hangzhou in Zhejiang province, communicating Yangtze River, Yellow River, Huaihe River, Haihe River and Qiantang River. It is 10 times longer than Suez Canal and 20 times longer than Panama Canal.
It was first dug in 686 BC during the late Spring and Autumn Period. During the Sui Dynasty(581-618), in order to transfer the grain from the richer south to the poorer north, the emperor Sui Yang Di developed it. The Canal was dug with the capital city of Luoyang in the middle to connect the Haihe, Yellow, Huaihe, Yangze, and Qiantang rivers into a unified water shipping network. During the Yuan Dynasty (1206-1368), Beijing became the capital city which is north to Luoyang, then Beijing became the northern terminal and the full length of a 1,794 km-long canal from Beijing to Hangzhou formed.
Originally the purpose of the canal was to transfer the grain but over the hundreds of years, the canal became a major trade conduit. Tea, silk, porcelain, lacquer ware, and salt were all shipped up to the north through this water way. Many of the bricks and stones used to build Beijing's temples and palaces arrived via the canal as well. Since most of Chinese major rivers such as Yangtze River, Yellow River, Pearl River flow from west to east, the Grand Canal running north to south really play an important role in developing the economy and enabling cultural exchange and political integration to mature between the north and south of China. It was also the giant irrigation project in the ancient times as well. Numerous historical incidents, major schools of thoughts, important literary works and folk customs are linked with this waterway. Along with the prosperous of the canal, there were many towns also rose on the both banks of it. Merchants were doing various businesses in the towns and the towns along the canal were all prosperous.
Owing to the development of the maritime transport between north and south and the opening of the railways after the mid-19th century, the role of the Grand Canal was greatly reduced and many sections of it fell into disrepair or became choked with mud. Due to route change of the Yellow River, the section in Shandong province could not be used any more. Many towns were vanish with the depressing of the Canal.
The Grand Canal gained a new life after the founding of the People 's Republic of China. Except for the section in Shandong, many other sections are navigable in some of the seasons while the 883-kilomerer stretch from Jiangsu to Zhejiang open to year-round shipping.
Many cities along the Canal, developed its own city river boat cruise, such as in Hangzhou, Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou, Zhenjiang etc however there is not a full length cruise on the Canal because it is mostly used for cargos, and it is only allowed the ship below 1000 tons to go through. So people only can cruise part of it.
