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Introduction to the Beijing Hangzhou Grand Canal:

The Grand Canal, also known as the Grand Canal or simply the Grand Canal, is the longest ancient canal in China and also in the world. Starting from Beijing in the north and ending in Hangzhou in the south, it flows through four provinces and one city in Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang, connecting the five major water systems of the Hai River, Yellow River, Huai River, Yangtze River, and Qiantang River, with a total length of 1794 kilometers.

In ancient times, land transportation could only rely on human and animal labor, with slow speed and small volume, but high costs and consumption. So bulk goods should be transported by water as much as possible. Most of the naturally formed large rivers in China flow horizontally from west to east. However, after experiencing war and destruction in the Yellow River Basin and the development of the Yangtze River Basin, China gradually formed a situation where the economic and cultural center was in the south, and the political and military center was in the north. To ensure the connection between the two major centers in the north and south, and to ensure a continuous flow of taxes and materials from the south to the capital, opening up and maintaining a waterway transportation artery that runs through the north and south has become extremely important for the successive dynasties. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, a specialized transportation governor and a large subordinate organization were established in the center of Huai'an Prefecture (now Huai'an District, Huai'an City) to be responsible for transportation matters. Before the rise of sea and modern land transportation, the cargo transportation volume of the Beijing Hangzhou Grand Canal generally accounted for three-quarters of the country.

In history, after the unification of the north and south during the Sui Dynasty, the canals and waterways excavated by previous dynasties, as well as the existing natural waterways, were combined to form a waterway from Jiangnan to Luoyang. The main purpose was to transport the necessary materials for the capital. The canal is centered around Luoyang, extending north to Zhuo County, west to the capital city of Daxing, and south to Yuhang. The Sui and Tang Grand Canal is the longest canal in world history. Emperor Kublai Khan of the Yuan Dynasty rebuilt the Beijing Hangzhou Grand Canal on the basis of the Sui and Tang Grand Canal (only the sections of the ancient Han Gou and Jiangnan Canal overlap with the Sui Dynasty Grand Canal). The extension and expansion of the Grand Canal throughout history is largely due to the strengthening of the agricultural development status in the Jiangnan region and the increasing demand for logistics. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, the government also carried out multiple dredging operations on the Beijing Hangzhou Grand Canal.

In 2014, the Beijing Hangzhou Grand Canal was included in the The World Heritage List as part of the Grand Canal.

The decline of modern times

In 1842, the decisive victory of the British army in the Opium War was to seize Zhenjiang at the confluence of the Beijing Hangzhou Grand Canal and the Yangtze River, block waterway transportation, and prompt Emperor Daoguang to make a decision to seek peace. Soon after, the Sino British Treaty of Nanjing was signed.

After 1853, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom occupied the area along the Yangtze River in Nanjing and Anhui for more than ten years, and the canal transportation was forced to be interrupted. The war was extremely brutal, during which major cities along the route suffered heavy damage, with some or even all of them burned down.

After the diversion of the Yellow River in 1855, the eastern section of the canal gradually silted up. From then on, the main transportation route was changed to sea.

In 1872, the Shipping Investment Promotion Bureau was established in Shanghai, officially using ships to transport grain.

In 1904, the Governor General of Transport was also abolished.

In 1911, the entire Jinpu Railway was opened to traffic. From then on, the status of the Grand Canal and the cities along it plummeted.

modern

On December 27, 2002, the Beijing Hangzhou Grand Canal became an important link and channel in the eastern route of China's South to North Water Diversion Project, allowing water from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River to be transported to water scarce areas such as Shandong and Hebei in the north.

In June 2006, it was listed as the sixth batch of national key cultural relics protection units by the State Council.

When the seventh batch of national key cultural relics protection units was announced in 2013, the Zhejiang East Canal and the Sui Tang Grand Canal were merged with the sixth batch of national key cultural relics protection units, the Beijing Hangzhou Dayun River, and renamed as the "Grand Canal". On June 22, 2014, the Grand Canal, including the Beijing Hangzhou Grand Canal, was selected as a World Heritage Site at the 38th World Heritage Committee meeting held in Doha.