Why did Pinglu Canal stop working?

The Pinglu Canal was suspended because of the financial difficulties and engineering and technical problems of the government at that time.

Building the canal required a lot of manpower, material resources and financial resources, but the government at that time lacked funds to support the construction project. In addition, due to the limited technical level at that time, the technical problems of long-distance water conservancy projects, ship locks and other large canals were difficult to solve, and these technical problems were also difficult to ensure the quality and operation efficiency of the canal.

Pinglu Canal is one of the ancient canals, which was built in the 4th century. It hangs high in the Yujin Gorge, connecting Henan in the south and Shanxi in the north, with a total length of more than 600 kilometers. It connects the traffic in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River and is one of the important waterways in northern China. In the history of ancient economic development, Pinglu Canal played an important role in the development and prosperity of regional economy.

Engineering difficulties of Pinglu canal

In the construction of Pinglu Canal, the most difficult project is the three cascade hubs: Ma Dao, Qishi and Qingnian. Wu Peng, an expert in Pinglu Canal project planning and design and a master of national engineering survey and design, said that there is a gap of about 65 meters between the water surface of Yujin New Reservoir and the sea level, so it is necessary to build three cascade locks to overcome the gap and realize the continuous navigation of ships. The ship lock is large in scale and complex in technology.

Canal construction is also facing many challenges such as safety, high efficiency, green and wisdom. Wu Peng said that Pinglu Canal will be built into the world's largest inland water-saving lock, which will greatly reduce the operating water consumption of the lock, make intensive use of water resources, and achieve breakthroughs in the research and development of efficient water conveyance system of the lock and the improvement of the reliability and durability of facilities.