The water from the south to the north is called the Nachao Canal

The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is the longest canal in the world and a great water conservancy project in ancient China. It is also known as the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal and the North-South Grand Canal. The Grand Canal starts from Beijing in the north to Hangzhou in the south, passes through Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and other provinces and cities, and runs through the five major water systems of the Haihe River, Yellow River, Huaihe River, Yangtze River, and Qiantang River, with a total length of 1,794 kilometers. The Grand Canal has experienced more than 2,400 years of history since its construction. The canal route has changed several times with the changes in Kyoto and the diversion of the Yellow River in the past dynasties. After the Sui Dynasty, the Grand Canal was the north-south water transportation trunk line connecting inland rivers and seaports in eastern China. It also had the benefits of irrigation, flood control, and drainage. It played an important role in the political, economic, military, and cultural development of past dynasties.

From the Zhou Dynasty to the Sui Dynasty, the Grand Canal was built in the late Spring and Autumn Period. In 486 BC, King Wu Fu Chai used the natural rivers, lakes and harbor branches in the Yangtze River Delta to dredge the "ancient waterway" from present-day Suzhou via Wuxi to Changzhou to the north and into the Yangtze River to Yangzhou in order to strive for hegemony in the Central Plains. , passing through Sheyang Lake in the northeast, and then northwest to Huai'an and entering the Huaihe River). Later, construction and extension of the river course continued in the Qin, Han, Wei, Jin, and Southern and Northern Dynasties. In 587 AD, the Sui Dynasty launched an army to attack Chen. From today's Huai'an to Yangzhou, they opened the mountains of Yangdu, and then straightened it out, no longer detouring around Sheyang Lake. After Emperor Yang came to the throne, the capital was moved from Chang'an to Luoyang, and the economy relied on Jianghuai. In 605, he ordered the opening of Jiqu. The western section of the project diverts the Gu and Luo Er water from the western suburbs of present-day Luoyang into the Yellow River; the eastern section of the project diverts the Yellow River water from the northeast of Bishui Town, Rongyang County, follows the Bianshui River (formerly a tributary of the Huaihe River), and enters the Huaitong Ji Canal via Shangqiu, Suxian and Si counties. Also known as Bianqu, it is the main road for water transportation. In 608 AD, the Yongji Canal was opened, which led the Qinshui River, a tributary of the Yellow River, into today's Wei River to Tianjin, and then traced the Yongding River to today's Beijing. In 610, the Jiangnan Canal was opened, which diverted water from present-day Zhenjiang to the Qiantang River through Wuxi, Suzhou, and Jiaxing to Hangzhou. So far, the Grand Canal has been built with Luoyang as the center and connected by Yongji Canal, Tongji Canal, Shanyangdu and Jiangnan Canal, connecting Hangzhou in the south and Beijing in the north, with a total length of more than 2,700 kilometers.

Tang and Song Dynasties During the Tang and Song Dynasties, dredging and renovation of the Grand Canal continued. In the Tang Dynasty, rivers were dredged and embankments built to facilitate water transport. The navigation weirs built on the canal since Jin Dynasty were successively converted into single-slab door locks that can not only adjust the navigation water depth of the canal, but also allow ships to pass back and forth. In the Song Dynasty, the canal's earthen bank was rebuilt into a stone-banked towpath, and the single sliding door lock was changed into a double sliding door lock with upper and lower gates (the prototype of modern ship locks), so that ships could safely pass through the lock. The canal's capacity has also been improved. In the second year of Yuanfeng in the Northern Song Dynasty (AD 1079), in order to solve the siltation problem caused by the Bianhe River (Tongji Canal) diverting water from the Yellow River, the Bianhe Clearance Project was carried out. 50 miles of canals were opened to directly divert Yiluo water into the Bianhe River. Then connected to the Yellow River. This project has many functions such as water diversion, water storage, drainage, and management. In terms of transportation organization, both the Tang and Song Dynasties had dedicated transshipment envoys and shipping envoys to manage canals and water transportation across the country. With the improvement of the canal's navigation conditions and the strengthening of transportation management, the annual water transport volume of the canal gradually increased from 200,000 shi in the early Tang Dynasty to 4 million shi, and as high as 7 million shi (approximately 1.162 billion kilograms today). Due to the development of shipping and the prosperity of commerce, important cities such as Suzhou and Hangzhou, shipbuilding industry bases Zhenjiang and Wuxi, and foreign trade port Yangzhou gradually formed along the canal.

In 1194 of the Yuan Dynasty, the Yellow River burst in Wuyang, present-day Henan Province, and Fengfeng Qiu went southward, seizing the Sishui River. From now on, Huaiyin seized the Huaihe River and entered the sea. The capital of the Yuan Dynasty was Dadu (today's Beijing). The initial water transport route traced the Yellow River from the Jianghuai River to the northwest to Zhongli Town, Fengqiu (North of Kaifeng) County, then transferred to land transport for 180 miles to Xinxiang and entered the Wei River. Water transport passed through Tianjin to Tongxian County, and then land transport to Dadu. Not only does this transportation route take a long detour, it also requires land and water transportation. In 1282, construction started to dig the Jezhou River. From now on, Jining diverted the Gu, Wen and Si rivers as its source, and opened a river 150 miles north to receive the Jishui (equivalent to the position of the later Daqing River. In 1855, the Yellow River took over the Daqing River and entered the sea). After the opening of the Jeju River, watercraft can go up the Yellow River, Sishui and Jeju Rivers from the Yangtze and Huaihe rivers to Ansan and Jishui. There are two routes from Jishui to Tianjin in the north. One is from Jishui to the sea and passes through the Bohai Bay to Tianjin; the other is from Dong Ahan Station (Dongping North) to the north for 200 miles by land to Linqing and into the Wei River today. Along the former route, the canal boats were often in danger of waves and waves; along the latter route, every summer and autumn rainy weather made the journey of grain trucks difficult. So in 1289, a 250-mile-long river was built from the Jeju River northward through Shouzhang and Liaocheng to Linqing, and connected to the Wei River. Because the Huitong River is located on the water-dividing ridge between the Hai River and the Huai River, 26 flap door ship locks were built on the Huitong River, and water tanks were set up in Jining to divert the water from north to south to regulate shipping water and control the water level of the canal. After the Huitong River is completed, watercraft can travel from the Jeju River, Huitong River, Wei River, and upstream the Baihe River to Tongxian County. From 1291 to 1293, the Yuan Dynasty opened the Hui River from Justong County to Dadu and built 20 gates. From then on, water boats could enter the Tonghui River from Tong County and reach Jishuitan in today's Beijing. At this point, the route of today's Grand Canal has only begun to take shape. After the completion of the Grand Canal, the Yuan Dynasty appointed the first and second deputy envoys of the Capital Cao Division to take charge of the canal and water transportation matters. However, due to the narrow and shallow channels of the Huitong River and insufficient water resources, the annual water transport volume is less than 100,000 stones.

The Ming and Qing dynasties both established their capitals in Beijing and expanded the Grand Canal of the Yuan Dynasty.

In the Ming Dynasty, the Huihe River gate and dam were rectified and navigation was restored; in 1411, the Huitong River was expanded and renovated, and Wenshui was diverted to Nanwang Lake. Taking advantage of the favorable terrain of Nanwang Lake, the Nanwang water tank was built, and seven-tenths of the water was north of the river. Three-tenths of the water flows southward, which solves the water source problem of Huitong River and adds 51 ship locks. In order to protect the canal from the flooding of the Yellow River and avoid the 360-mile Yellow River voyage, the Ming Dynasty successively opened the river 440 miles east of Nansi Lake south of Nanyang Town, Jining, Shandong Province from 1528 to 1567 and from 1595 to 1605. The original Sishui Canal route (today's west line of Nansi Lake) that originally passed through Pei and entered the Yellow River was changed to the east line of today's Nansi Lake that passes through Xiazhen, Hanzhuang, and Taierzhuang to the county and enters the Yellow River, that is, the Hanzhuang Canal line. In addition, in order to ensure the safety of canal navigation, the Hongze Lake embankment and the west embankment of the canal in the Gaoyou Lake area were also built, and a level sluice was built on the east embankment of the canal to regulate the water level of the canal. From 1681 to 1688, the Qing Dynasty measured the distance east of the Yellow River, about 200 miles from the north of present-day Luoma Lake to Kaizhong River and Zao River in Huaiyin. It was connected to Hanzhuang Canal in the north and Jinli Canal in the south, thus making the canal route completely consistent with the Yellow River. The river channels separate. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the carrying capacity of canal canals was stipulated as 400 stones. In the Ming Dynasty, the load and draft of watercraft could not exceed 3 feet, and the annual water transport volume was about 4 million stones. The Qing Dynasty stipulated that the load and draft of watercraft should not exceed 3 feet 5 inches, and the annual water transport volume was about 4 million stones.

In 1855, the Yellow River broke through Tongwaxiang in Henan Province and moved northward, taking the Daqing River into the sea in Shandong Province. The Grand Canal was cut off from north to south. In the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, there were several initiatives to regulate the canal. , but none of them were implemented.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Jiangyin Ship Lock and the Yangliuqing and Suqian thousand-ton ship locks were built in 1953 and 1957, marking the beginning of the construction of the ancient large ship locks. Partial restoration and expansion of the canal. After 1959, in conjunction with the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, the canal section of more than 400 kilometers from Chuzhou to the Yangtze River was focused on expanding, bringing the canal's one-way annual throughput capacity to nearly 80 million tons, and expanding the coastal irrigation area and drainage area to ensure that It has achieved many benefits by ensuring the safety of 15 million acres of farmland and the lives and property of 8 million people in the river area.

At present, the section of the Grand Canal north of Jining is unable to exert shipping efficiency due to insufficient water resources. In the section south of Jining to Hangzhou, 16 navigation steps have been built, including 12 large ship locks. The canal and the rivers and lakes along its banks have been gradually controlled by gates to regulate discharge during flood periods and recharge during dry periods. The northward river water diversion project has begun to take shape. In the river section south of Xuzhou, the annual tonnage of ships passing through the lock has reached more than 13.7 million tons, and the annual cargo volume has reached 55 million tons. In order to adapt to the rapid growth of freight tasks and divert coal transportation to the south, the canal expansion and construction project from Jining to Hangzhou has begun. The channel will be further dredged and widened, double-track ship locks will be added, the channel from the canal to the Qiantang River will be connected, and the port throughput will be expanded. The canal's one-way throughput capacity reaches 35 to 40 million tons, and it can undertake the total freight task of annual transportation volume of 100 million tons.

Historically, it not only facilitated the transportation and exchange of large quantities of materials between the north and the south, but also contributed to the political, economic and cultural development of our country. Due to its age and disrepair, the Grand Canal's transportation capacity has not been fully utilized. At present, the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal has a navigable mileage of 1,442 kilometers, of which the annual navigable mileage is 877 kilometers, mainly distributed in Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces south of the Yellow River.

The area along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is one of the richest agricultural areas in my country, and industrial production is also very developed. There are large and medium-sized coal mines in Yanzhou, Jining, Zaozhuang, Tengxian, Fengxian, Peixian, Xuzhou and Lianghuai, and are connected to industrial cities such as Shanghai, Nanjing, Zhenjiang, Changzhou, Wuxi, Suzhou and Hangzhou. In order to make the "golden waterway" produce "golden" benefits, the three provinces of Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang along the route have made great efforts to renovate, expand and channelize various sections of the Grand Canal, rejuvenating the thousand-year-old canal and becoming the only one in my country. The second "golden waterway" after the Yangtze River.

The main ports along the canal include Jining, Xuzhou, Pixian, Huaiyin, Huai'an, Baoying, Gaoyou, Yangzhou, Zhenjiang, Changzhou, Wuxi, Suzhou, Wujiang and Hangzhou. The Jining section (Jining, Shandong - Linjiaba, Xuzhou, Jiangsu) has a total length of more than 130 kilometers. Its improvement and expansion project has been listed as a key inland river project during the national "Ninth Five-Year Plan" period, and is scheduled to be fully completed by the end of 2000. The total investment in this project is 1.496 billion yuan. After the completion of the project, the main channel in the Jining section will be raised from the current level six channel standard to the level three standard, the bottom width will be widened from the current 16 meters to 50 meters, and the water depth will reach 3 meters. By then, 1,000-ton ships can reach Jining directly from the Yangtze River, and the annual throughput capacity will reach 25 million tons. The new port throughput capacity will be 13.5 million tons, which is equivalent to building a new "Beijing-Shanghai Railway". It is speculated that by the year 2000, Jining's raw coal output will reach 55 million tons, and 25 million tons will be exported annually, all of which will be transported to East China, South China, and all over the country through the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal in Jiangsu has a total length of 628 kilometers. The Ministry of Transport and the Jiangsu Provincial Government invested heavily in renovating and expanding the North Jiangsu and South Jiangsu canals. Investing 1 billion yuan to expand the two second-line ship locks of Jianbi and Jietai and the three third-line ship locks of Huaiyin, Huai'an and Suqian on the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal, eliminating the "bottleneck" restriction in the Jiangsu section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal, and realizing the construction of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal in southern Jiangsu, The entire line in northern Jiangsu is smooth, providing a north-south water rapid transportation artery for Jiangsu and East China.

The North Jiangsu Canal (Xuzhou Linjiaba - Huaiyin - Yangzhou Liuxukou), with a total length of 404 kilometers, spans 11 counties and cities including Xuzhou, Suqian, Huaiyin and Yangzhou, connecting Weishan Lake, Luoma Lake, Water systems such as Hongze Lake and Gaoyou Lake are the busiest sections of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal. This renovation cost a total of 600 million yuan and basically built a secondary waterway, making it the highest-level waterway on the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal and capable of transporting 2,000-ton ships all year round. At present, ships from more than ten provinces and cities including Jiangsu, Shandong, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Hunan, and Henan are sailing there, with an annual cargo volume of more than 300 million tons. The maximum throughput of the Xuzhou section has reached 55 million tons of ship tonnage, of which the cargo throughput has reached 35 million tons. The Sunan Canal (Zhenjiang Jianbi-Changzhou-Nanxun), with a total length of 224 kilometers, runs through Changzhou, Zhenjiang, Wuxi, Suzhou and other counties and cities with the most developed economy in Jiangsu, connecting the Yangtze River and Taihu water systems, and connecting with Shanghai, Zhejiang, etc. The surrounding areas are connected by interprovincial rivers.

Currently, ships from 13 provinces and cities including Jiangsu, Shandong, Anhui, Shanghai, Hunan, Hubei and Sichuan sail on this section of the canal. This renovation project of the Sunan Canal is a key transportation construction project arranged by the state during the "Eighth Five-Year Plan" period, and is also one of the six key transportation projects in Jiangsu Province. This renovation project has a total investment of more than 2.7 billion yuan. All waterways have reached Class IV standards and can be navigable for 500-ton fleets. It is a model for my country's current inland waterway construction and has become the largest inland waterway construction in my country with the highest standards and the best benefits. main channel on the water. Currently, the annual freight volume has exceeded 100 million tons, exceeding the volume of the Yangtze River waterway in Jiangsu and equivalent to three times the single-line freight volume of the Shanghai-Nanjing Railway. The density of sailing ships exceeds that of the Rhine River in Germany. It is one of the river sections with the largest transportation volume and highest density on the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal. The newly built Jianbi Ship Lock has an average daily ship throughput of more than 100,000 tons. The Zhejiang section (Nanxun-Hangzhou), with a total length of more than 120 kilometers, connects the Taihu Lake water system and the Qiantang River water system. It is divided into three routes: east, middle and west. Generally, the east line represents the location of the canal. The river is narrow and curved all year round. Motorized vessels are accessible. In recent years, through the rectification of the transportation department, shipping conditions have been improved, and ships of 300 tons can now pass. In order to meet the needs of economic development, the Ministry of Transport and Zhejiang Province are planning to extend the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal to Ningbo Port in eastern Zhejiang Province. This move will bring opportunities for the development of my country's inland container transportation and even the prosperity of inland shipping. The planned Hangzhou-Ningbo Canal is more than 240 kilometers long. Located on the south bank of Hangzhou Bay, it runs through the Qiantang River, Cao'e River, and Yongjiang river systems. The entire line is designed according to the fourth- to fifth-level waterway standards, and the annual throughput capacity will reach 40 million tons. This comprehensive renovation of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal will greatly improve the shipping capacity, making it a golden waterway for transporting coal from the north to the south of the country, and a major artery for the south-to-north water diversion. It will also greatly improve and promote the development of farmland water conservancy along the river, and will contribute to ensuring agriculture. The stable and high yield also plays a very important role in ensuring that the comprehensive utilization benefits are obvious.