Grand Canal

The Grand Canal is the longest canal or artificial river in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its main artery, known to the Chinese as the Jing–Hang or BeijingHangzhou Grand Canal, is reckoned to extend for and is divided into 6 main sections. The Jiangnan Canal runs from the Qiantang River at Hangzhou to the Yangtze River at Zhenjiang; the Inner Canal from the Yangtze at Yangzhou to the Huai River at Huai'an, which for centuries was also its junction with the former course of the Yellow River; the Middle Canal from Huai'an to the Nansi Lakes; the Lu Canal from the lakes past Jining and the present course of the Yellow River to the Wei River at Linqing; the Southern Canal from Linqing to the Hai River at Tianjin; and the Northern Canal from Tianjin to Tongzhou on the outskirts of Beijing. As such, it passes through the provinces and municipalities of Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shandong, Hebei, Tianjin, and Beijing. Since 2013 and 2014, the Chinese government and UNESCO further recognize the Eastern Zhejiang Canal from Hangzhou to Ningbo and certain sites along the former Tongji and Yongji Canals as official components of the Grand Canal. The oldest sections of what is now the Grand Canal were completed in the early 5th century BC to provide supply routes for the states of Wu and Yue during the conflicts of China's Spring and Autumn Period. The network was completed by Emperor Yang of the Sui in AD 609, linking the fertile Jiangnan region in the south to his capital at Luoyang in the west and to his armies in the far north. His unsuccessful and unpopular wars and the massive amounts of conscripted labor involved in creating the canal were among the chief factors in the rapid fall of the Sui, but the connection of China's major watersheds and population centers proved enormously beneficial. Additional canals supplied Chang'an (now Xi'an) even further west under the Tang while the main course became the economic hub of the empire. Periodic flooding of the Yellow River threatened the safety and functioning of the canal while, during wartime, the rivers' high dikes were sometimes deliberately broken to delay or sweep away advancing enemy troops. Even so, restoration and improvement of the canal and its associated flood control works was assumed as a duty by each successive dynasty. The canal played a major role in periodically reuniting northern and southern China, and officials in charge of the canal and nearby salt works grew enormously wealthy.