Grand Canal (China)

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Grand Canal of China
Watercraft moving across the Grand Canal of China in Suzhou
Length 1,115 miles (1,794 km)
Construction began Sui dynasty
Start point Beijing
End point Hangzhou
Connects to Hai River, Yellow River, Huai River, Yangzi River, Qiantang River
Official name The Grand Canal
Type Cultural
Criteria i, iii, iv, vi
Designated 2014 (38th session)
Reference no. 1443
State Party China
Region Asia-Pacific
Grand Canal
Grand Canal (Chinese characters).svg
Simplified Chinese 大运河
Traditional Chinese 大運河
Literal meaning "Great Transport River"
Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal
Simplified Chinese 京杭大运河
Traditional Chinese 京杭大運河

The Grand Canal (also known as the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal), a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the longest canal or artificial river in the world and a famous tourist destination.[1] Starting at Beijing, it passes through Tianjin and the provinces of Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the city of Hangzhou, linking the Yellow River and Yangtze River. The oldest parts of the canal date back to the 5th century BC, although the various sections were finally combined during the Sui dynasty (581–618 AD).

The total length of the Grand Canal is 1,776 km (1,104 mi). Its greatest height is reached in the mountains of Shandong, at a summit of 42 m (138 ft).[2] Ships in Chinese canals did not have trouble reaching higher elevations after the pound lock was invented in the 10th century, during the Song dynasty (960–1279), by the government official and engineer Qiao Weiyue.[3] The canal has been admired by many throughout history including Japanese monk Ennin (794–864), Persian historian Rashid al-Din (1247–1318), Korean official Choe Bu (1454–1504), and Italian missionary Matteo Ricci (1552–1610).[4][5]

Historically, periodic flooding of the adjacent Yellow River threatened the safety and functioning of the canal. During wartime the high dikes of the Yellow River were sometimes deliberately broken in order to flood advancing enemy troops. This caused disaster and prolonged economic hardships. Despite temporary periods of desolation and disuse, the Grand Canal furthered an indigenous and growing economic market in China's urban centers since the Sui period. It has allowed faster trading and has improved China's economy. The southern portion remains in constant heavy use to the present day.

Courses of Grand Canal


Early history[edit]

In the late Spring and Autumn period (722–481 BC), King Fuchai of Wu, ruler of the State of Wu (present-day Suzhou), ventured north to conquer the neighboring State of Qi. He ordered a canal be constructed for trading purposes, as well as a means to ship ample supplies north in case his forces should engage the northern states of Song and Lu.[6] This canal became known as the Han Gou (邗沟, "Han Conduit").[7] Work began in 486 BC, from south of Yangzhou to north of Huai'an in Jiangsu, and within three years the Han Gou had connected the Yangtze River to the Huai River by means of existing waterways, lakes, and marshes.[6]

Han Gou is known as the second oldest section of the later Grand Canal since the Hong Gou (鴻溝, "Canal of the Flying Geese" or "Far-Flung Canal") most likely preceded it.[8] It linked the Yellow River near Kaifeng to the Si and Bian rivers and became the model for the shape of the Grand Canal in the north.[9] The exact date of the Hong Gou's construction is uncertain; it is first mentioned by the diplomat Su Qin in 330 BC when discussing state boundaries.[10] The historian Sima Qian (145–90 BC) dated it much earlier than the 4th century BC, attributing it to the work of Yu the Great; modern scholars now consider it to belong to the 6th century BC.[10]

Grand Canal in the Sui dynasty[edit]

The Grand Canal, under Sui and Tang dynasties.
Emperor Wen of Sui, who launched the project of the Grand Canal. Painting by Tang dynasty artist Yan Liben (600–673).
Emperor Yang of Sui, son of Emperor Wen of Sui, who completed the project. Painting by Yan Liben.

The sections of the Grand Canal today in Zhejiang and southern Jiangsu provinces were in large part a creation of the Sui dynasty (581-618), a result of the migration of China’s core economic and agricultural region away from the Yellow River valley in the north and toward the southern provinces. Its main role throughout its history was the transport of grain to the capital. The institution of the Grand Canal by the Qin dynasty and the Sui dynasty, mostly the Sui. also obviated the need for the army to become self-sufficient farmers while posted at the northern frontier, as food supplies could now easily be shipped from south to north over the pass.[11]

By the year 600, there were major build ups of silt on the bottom of the Hong Gou canal, obstructing river barges whose drafts were too deep for its waters.[2] The chief engineer of the Sui dynasty, Yuwen Kai, advised the dredging of a new canal that would run parallel to the existing canal, diverging from it at Chenliu (Yanzhou).[2] The new canal was to pass not Xuzhou but Suzhou, to avoid connecting with the Si River, and instead make a direct connection with the Huai River just west of Lake Hongze.[2] With the recorded labor of five million men and women under the supervision of Ma Shumou, the first major section of the Grand Canal was completed in the year 605—called the Bian Qu.[12] The Grand Canal was fully completed under the second Sui emperor, from the years 604 to 609,[13] first by linking Luoyang to the Yangzhou (and the Yangzi valley), then expanding it to Hangzhou (south), and to Beijing (north).[14] This allowed the southern area to provide grain to the northern province, particularly to troops stationed there.[14] Running alongside and parallel to the canal was an imperial roadway and post offices supporting a courier system. The government also planted an enormous line of trees.[11][12] The history of the canal's construction is handed down in the book Kaiheji ('Record of the Opening of the Canal').[12]

The earlier dyke-building project in 587 along the Yellow River—overseen by engineer Liang Rui—established canal lock gates to regulate water levels for the canal.[12] Double slipways were installed to haul boats over when the difference in water levels were too great for the flash lock to operate.[12]

Between 604 and 609, Emperor Yang Guang (or Sui Yangdi) of the Sui dynasty ordered a number of canals be dug in a ‘Y’ shape, from Hangzhou in the south to termini in (modern) Beijing and in the capital region along the Yellow River valley. When the canal was completed it linked the systems of the Qiantang River, the Yangtze River, the Huai River, the Yellow River, the Wei River and the Hai River. Its southern section, running between Hangzhou and the Yangtze, was named the Jiangnan River (the river ‘South of the Yangtze’). The canal’s central portions stretched from Yangzhou to Luoyang; the section between the Yangtze and the Huai continued to the Shanyang River; and the next section connected the Huai to the Yellow River and was called the Tongji Channel. The northernmost portion, linking Beijing and Luoyang, was named the Yongji Channel. This portion of the canal was used to transport troops to what is now the North Korean border region during the Goguryeo-Sui Wars (598–614). After the canal's completion in 609, Emperor Yang led a recorded 105 km (65 mi) long naval flotilla of boats from the north down to his southern capital at Yangzhou.[11]

The Grand Canal at this time was not a continuous, man-made canal but a collection of often non-contiguous artificial cuts and canalised or natural rivers.

Grand Canal from Tang to Yuan[edit]

Although the Tang dynasty (618–907) capital at Chang'an was the most thriving metropolis of China in its day, it was the city of Yangzhou—in proximity to the Grand Canal—that was the economic hub of the Tang era.[15] Besides being the headquarters for the government salt monopoly and the largest pre-modern industrial production center of the empire, Yangzhou was also the geographical midpoint along the north-south trade axis, and so became the major center for southern goods shipped north.[15] One of the greatest benefits of the canal system in the Tang dynasty—and subsequent dynasties—was that it reduced the cost of shipping grain that had been collected in taxes from the Yangtze River Delta to northern China.[16] Minor additions to the canal were made after the Sui period to cut down on travel time, but overall no fundamental differences existed between the Sui Grand Canal and the Tang Grand Canal.[17]

By the year 735, it was recorded that about 149,685,400 kilograms (165,000 short tons) of grain were shipped annually along the canal.[18] The Tang government oversaw canal lock efficiency and built granaries along route in case a flood or other disaster impeded the path of shipment.[18] To ensure smooth travel of grain shipments, Transport Commissioner Liu Yan (in office from 763 to 779) had special river barge ships designed and constructed to fit the depths of each section of the entire canal.[19]


The invention of the water-level-adjusting pound lock in the 10th century AD was done in response to the necessity of greater safety for the travel of barge ships along rougher waters of the Grand Canal.

The city of Kaifeng grew to be a major hub, later becoming the capital of the Song dynasty (960–1279). Although the Tang and Song dynasty international seaports—the greatest being Guangzhou and Quanzhou, respectively—and maritime foreign trade brought merchants great fortune, it was the Grand Canal within China that spurred the greatest amount of economic activity and commercial profit.[21] During the Song and earlier periods, barge ships occasionally crashed and wrecked along the Shanyang Yundao section of the Grand Canal while passing the double slipways, and more often than not those were then robbed of the tax grain by local bandits.[22] This prompted Qiao Weiyue, an Assistant Commissioner of Transport for Huainan, to invent a double-gate system known as the pound lock in the year 984.[23] This allowed ships to wait within a gated space while the water could be drained to appropriate levels; the Chinese also built roofed hangars over the space to add further protection for the ships.[23]

Much of the Grand Canal south of the Yellow River was ruined for several years after 1128, when Du Chong decided to break the dykes and dams holding back the waters of the Yellow River in order to decimate the oncoming Jurchen invaders during the Jin–Song wars.[24] The Jurchen Jin dynasty continually battled with the Song in the region between the Huai River and the Yellow River; this warfare led to the dilapidation of the canal until the Mongols invaded in the 13th century AD and began necessary repairs.[19]

During the Mongol Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) the capital of China was moved to Beijing, eliminating the need for the canal arm flowing west to Kaifeng or Luoyang.[25] A summit section was dug across the foothills of the Shandong massif during the 1280s, shortening the overall length by as much as 700 km (making the total length about 1800 km) and linking Hangzhou and Beijing with a direct north-south waterway for the first time. As in the Song and Jin era, the canal fell into disuse and dilapidation during the Yuan dynasty's decline.[26]

Ming dynasty restoration[edit]


The Grand Canal was renovated almost in its entirety between 1411 and 1415 during the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). A magistrate of Jining, Shandong sent a memorandum to the throne of the Yongle Emperor protesting the current inefficient means of transporting 4,000,000 dan (428,000,000 liters) of grain a year by means of transferring it along several different rivers and canals in barge types that went from deep to shallow after the Huai River, and then transferred back onto deep barges once the shipment of grain reached the Yellow River.[27] Chinese engineers built a dam to divert the Wen River to the southwest in order to feed 60% of its water north into the Grand Canal, with the remainder going south.[28] They dug four large reservoirs in Shandong to regulate water levels, which allowed them to avoid pumping water from local sources and water tables.[28] Between 1411 and 1415 a total of 165,000 laborers dredged the canal bed in Shandong and built new channels, embankments, and canal locks.[28]

The Yongle Emperor moved the Ming capital from Nanjing to Beijing in 1403. This move deprived Nanjing of its status as chief political center of China. The reopening of the Grand Canal also benefited Suzhou over Nanjing since the former was in a better position on the main artery of the Grand Canal, and so it became Ming China's greatest economic center.[29] The only other viable contender with Suzhou in the Jiangnan region was Hangzhou, but it was located 200 km (120 mi) further down the Grand Canal and away from the main delta.[30] Even the shipwrecked Korean Choe Bu (1454–1504)—while traveling for five months throughout China in 1488—acknowledged that Hangzhou served not as a competitor but as an economic feeder into the greater Suzhou market.[30] Therefore, the Grand Canal served to make or break the economic fortunes of certain cities along its route, and served as the economic lifeline of indigenous trade within China.

The scholar Gu Yanwu of the early Qing dynasty (1644–1912) estimated that the previous Ming dynasty had to employ 47,004 full-time laborers recruited by the lijia corvée system in order to maintain the entire canal system.[31] It is known that 121,500 soldiers and officers were needed simply to operate the 11,775 government grain barges in the mid-15th century.[31]

Besides its function as a grain shipment route and major vein of river borne indigenous trade in China, the Grand Canal had long been a government-operated courier route as well. In the Ming dynasty, official courier stations were placed at intervals of 35 to 45 km.[31] Each courier station was assigned a different name, all of which were popularized in travel songs of the period.[32]

Qing dynasty and 20th century China[edit]

The Manchus invaded China in the mid-17th century, allowed through the northern passes by the Chinese general Wu Sangui once the Ming capital at Beijing had fallen into the hands of a rebel army. The Manchus established the Qing dynasty (1644–1912), and under their leadership the Grand Canal was overseen and maintained just as in earlier times.


The economic importance of the canal likely will continue. The governments of the Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces planned dredging meant to increase shipping capacity by 40 percent by 2012.


Historical sections[edit]


Jia Canal[edit]

In 12 BC, to solve the problem of the Grand Canal having to use 100 miles (160 km) of the perilous course of the Yellow River in Northern Jiangsu, a man named Li Hualong opened the Jia Canal. Named after the Jia River whose course it followed, it ran 90 miles (140 km) from Xiazhen (modern Weishan) on the shore of Shandong's Weishan Lake to Suqian in Jiangsu. The construction of the Jia Canal left only 60 miles (97 km) of Yellow River navigation on the Grand Canal, from Suqian to Huai'an, which by 1688 had been removed by the construction of the Middle Canal by Jin Fu.

Nanyang New Canal[edit]

In 1566, to escape the problems caused by flooding of the Yellow River around Yutai (now on the western shore of Weishan Lake), the Nanyang New Canal was opened. It ran for 47 miles (76 km) from Nanyang (now Nanyang Town in the centre of Weishan Lake) to the small settlement of Liucheng (in the vicinity of modern Gaolou Village, Weishan County, Shandong) north of Xuzhou City. This change in effect moved the Grand Canal from the low-lying and flood-prone land west of Weishan Lake onto the marginally higher land to its east. It was fed by rivers flowing east-west from the borders of the Shandong massif.

Huitong Canal[edit]


Jizhou Canal[edit]


Duke Huan's Conduit[edit]

In 369 AD, General Huan Wen of the Eastern Jin dynasty connected the shallow river valleys of the Huai and the Yellow. He achieved this by joining two of these rivers' tributaries, the Si and the Ji respectively, at their closest point, across a low watershed of the Shandong massif. Huan Wen’s primitive summit canal became a model for the engineers of the Jizhou Canal.

Yilou Canal[edit]

The Shanyang Canal originally opened onto the Yangtze a short distance south of Yangzhou. As the north shore of the Yangtze gradually silted up to create the sandbank island of Guazhou, it became necessary for boats crossing to and from the Jiangnan Canal to sail the long way around the eastern edge of that island. After a particularly rough crossing of the Yangtze from Zhenjiang, the local prefect realised that a canal dug directly across Guazhou would slash the journey time and so make the crossing safer. The Yilou Canal was opened in 738 AD and still exists, though not as part of the modern Grand Canal route.

Modern course[edit]

The Grand Canal nominally runs between Beijing and Hangzhou over a total length of 1,794 km (1,115 mi), however, only the section from Hangzhou to Jining is currently navigable. Its course is today divided into seven sections. From south to north these are the Jiangnan Canal, the Li Canal, the Zhong Canal, the Lu Canal, the South Canal, the North Canal, and the Tonghui River.

Jiangnan Canal[edit]

The Jiangnan Canal

This southernmost section of the canal runs from Hangzhou in Zhejiang, where the canal connects with the Qiantang River, to Zhenjiang in Jiangsu, where it meets the Yangtze. After leaving Hangzhou the canal passes around the eastern border of Lake Tai, through the major cities of Jiaxing, Suzhou, Wuxi and Changzhou before reaching Zhenjiang. The Jiangnan (or ‘South of the Yangtze’) Canal is very heavily used by barge traffic bringing coal and construction materials to the booming delta. It is generally a minimum of 100 metres wide in the congested city centres, and often two or three times this width in the countryside beyond. In recent years, broad bypass canals have been dug around the major cities to reduce ‘traffic jams’.

Li Canal[edit]

This ‘Inner Canal’ runs between the Yangtze and Huai'an in Jiangsu, skirting the Shaobo, Gaoyou and Hongze lakes of central Jiangsu. Here the land lying to the west of the canal is higher than its bed while the land to the east is lower. Traditionally the Shanghe region west of the canal has been prone to frequent flooding, while the Xiahe region to its east has been hit by less frequent but immensely damaging inundations caused by failure of the Grand Canal levees. Recent works have allowed floodwaters from Shanghe to be diverted safely out to sea.

Zhong Canal[edit]

The canal in Jining City


Lu Canal[edit]

At Weishan Lake, both courses enter Shandong province. From here to Linqing, the canal is called the Lu or ‘Shandong’ Canal. It crosses a series of lakes – Zhaoyang, Dushan and Nanyang – which nominally form a continuous body of water. At present, diversions of water mean that the lakes are often largely dry land. North of the northernmost Nanyang Lake is the city of Jining. Further on, about 30 km north of Jining, the highest elevation of the canal (38.5 m above sea level) is reached at the town of Nanwang. In the 1950s a new canal was dug to the south of the old summit section. The old summit section is now dry, while the new canal holds too little water to be navigable. About 50 km further north, passing close by Dongping Lake, the canal reaches the Yellow River. By this point waterless, it no longer communicates with the river. It reappears again in Liaocheng City on the north bank where, intermittently flowing through a renovated stone channel, it reaches the city of Linqing on the ShandongHebei border.

Southern Canal[edit]

The junction of the Lu Canal and South Canal

The fifth section of the canal extends for a distance of 524 kilometres (326 mi) from Linqing to Tianjin along the course of the canalised Wei River. Though one of the northernmost sections, its name derives from its position relative to Tianjin. The Wei River at this point is heavily polluted while drought and industrial water extraction have left it too low to be navigable. The canal, now in Hebei province, passes through the cities of Dezhou and Cangzhou. Although to spectators the canal appears to be a deep waterway in these city centres, its depth is maintained by weirs and the canal is all but dry where it passes through the surrounding countryside. At its end the canal joins the Hai River in the centre of Tianjin City before turning north-west.

Northern Canal and Tonghui River[edit]

In Tianjin the canal heads northwest, for a short time following the course of the Yongding, a tributary of the Hai River, before branching off toward Tongzhou on the edge of the municipality of Beijing. It is here that the modern canal stops and that a Grand Canal Cultural Park has been built. During the Yuan dynasty a further canal, the Tonghui River, connected Tongzhou with a wharf called the Houhai or "rear sea" in central Beijing. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, however, the water level in the Tonghui River dropped and it was impossible for ships to travel from Tongzhou to Beijing. Tongzhou became the northern shipping terminus of the canal. Cargoes were unloaded at Tongzhou and transported to Beijing by land. The Tonghui river still exists as a wide, concrete lined storm-channel and drain for the suburbs of Beijing.





The Grand Canal at its northern terminus at Houhai in Beijing.

From the Tang to Qing dynasties, the Grand Canal served as the main artery between northern and southern China and was essential for the transport of grain to Beijing. Although it was mainly used for shipping grain, it also transported other commodities and the corridor along the canal developed into an important economic belt. Records[citation needed] show that, at its height, every year more than 8,000 boats transported four to six million dan (240,000–360,000 metric tons) of grain. The convenience of transport also enabled rulers to lead inspection tours to southern China. In the Qing dynasty, the Kangxi and Qianlong emperors made twelve trips to the south, on all occasions but one reaching Hangzhou.

The Grand Canal also enabled cultural exchange and political integration to mature between the north and south of China. The canal even made a distinct impression on some of China's early European visitors. Marco Polo recounted the Grand Canal's arched bridges as well as the warehouses and prosperous trade of its cities in the 13th century. The famous Roman Catholic missionary Matteo Ricci travelled from Nanjing to Beijing on the canal at the end of the 16th century.

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the canal has been used primarily to transport vast amounts of bulk goods such as bricks, gravel, sand, diesel and coal. The Jianbi shiplocks on the Yangtze are currently handling some 75,000,000 tons[vague] each year, and the Li Canal is forecast to reach 100,000,000 tons[vague] in the next few years.

South-North Water Transfer Project[edit]



Notable travellers[edit]

In 1169, with China divided between the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty in the north and the Southern Song dynasty in the south, the Chinese emperor sent a delegation to the Jurchen to wish their ruler well for the New Year. A scholar-official named Lou Yue, secretary to the delegation, recorded the journey, much of which was made upon the Grand Canal, and submitted his Diary of a Journey to the North to the emperor on his return.[35]

In 1170 the poet, politician and historian Lu You travelled upon the Grand Canal from Shaoxing to the river Yangtze, recording his progress in a diary.[36]


In 1488, the shipwrecked Korean scholar Choe Bu travelled the length of the Grand Canal on his way from Zhejiang to Beijing (and on to Korea), and left a detailed account of his trip.

In 1600, Matteo Ricci, a famous Italian Christian missionary, traveled to Beijing from Nanjing via the Grand Canal waterway to try to get the support of Emperor of Ming Dynasty with the help of Wang Zhongde, the Director of the Board of Rites in the central government of China at the time.[37]

In 1793, after a largely fruitless diplomatic mission to Jehol, a large part of Lord Macartney's embassy returned south to the Yangtze delta on the Grand Canal.[38]

See also[edit]


  3. ^ Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 350–352
  4. ^ Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 308 & 313.
  5. ^ Brook, 40–51.
  6. ^ a b Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 271–272.
  7. ^ Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 271.
  8. ^ Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 269–270.
  9. ^ Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 269.
  10. ^ a b Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 270.
  11. ^ a b c Ebrey, Cambridge Illustrated History of China, 116.
  14. ^ a b Ebrey, Cambridge Illustrated History of China, p115
  15. ^ a b Benn, 46.
  16. ^ Benn, 7.
  17. ^ Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 309.
  18. ^ a b Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 310.
  19. ^ a b Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 311.
  20. ^ Bowman, 105.
  21. ^ Fairbank, 89.
  22. ^ Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 350–351.
  23. ^ a b Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 351.
  24. ^ Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 266.
  25. ^ Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 227.
  26. ^ Brook, 46.
  27. ^ Brook, 46–47.
  28. ^ a b c d Brook, 47.
  29. ^ Brook, 74–75.
  30. ^ a b Brook, 75.
  31. ^ a b c Brook, 48.
  32. ^ Brook, 48–49.
  34. ^ Owner, Scriptlearners. [ "SUITransport"] Check |url= value (help). Scriptlearners. Scriptlearners (C). Retrieved 2014-2016.  Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  37. ^ The missionaries traveled along The Grand Canal -



  • Gandar, Dominique (1903). Le Canal Imperial: Etude Historique et Descriptive. Shanghai: Imprimerie de la Mission Catholique. Varietes Sinologiques No. 4.
  • China’s Ancient Lifeline published May 2013 National Geographic magazine
  • 中国运河, 竞放、杜家驹 主编, 金陵书社 1997年； China's Canal, Jing Fang and Du Jiaju eds, Jinling Book Society, 1997.

External links[edit]
