The canal has always had an important impact on local economic development. Therefore, people have always had the habit of building canals for economic trade. Everyone knows that the longest canal in the world is the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal in China. In fact, the Sui-Tang Grand Canal is the longest canal in the world. As the predecessor of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, it has a total length of 2,700 kilometers.
The Grand Canal has a history of 2,500 years ago and can be divided into three periods: the first period is at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, when King Wu Fucha first dug a Han ditch in Yangzhou to connect Changhuai and the Huaihe River. The second period was the Grand Canal of the Sui Dynasty, which started from Hangzhou in the south and reached Beijing in the north, forming a national canal system centered on Luoyang, the eastern capital of the Sui Dynasty, connecting the five major water systems. The third period was formed in the Yuan Dynasty. Today, we call it the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. People can reach Beijing by boat from West Lake in Hangzhou and through five major rivers.
The longest canal in the world in history: the Sui-Tang Grand Canal
The Sui-Tang Grand Canal is divided into four sections: Yongji Canal, Tongji Canal, Hangou and Jiangnan sections.
It took six years and covered a total length of 2,700 kilometers.
The capitals of the Sui Dynasty were Chang'an in the west and Luoyang in the east. The canal construction starts from Yangzhou, first goes northwest, diagonally crosses the Huaihe River Basin in Anhui, passes through northeastern Henan, enters the Yellow River Basin, and reaches Luoyang, which is the second half; then goes northeast, passes through southeastern Hebei, enters the Haihe River Basin, and ends at Zhuojun. This is the upper part, taking the character "Zi" as a whole. The Sui Canal was built in 605 AD. More than 2 million migrant workers dug the economic canal to connect the Yellow River and the Huaihe River. In that year, 100,000 migrant workers were used to dredge the ancient Han ditch to connect the Huaihe River and the Yangtze River, forming the second half. Three years later, more than one million migrant workers from Hebei Province dug their way to the Yongji Canal south of Beijing, forming the first half. Two years later, the Jiangnan Canal will be reopened to Yuhang. So far, it took six years and more than five million migrant workers to work together. The 2,700-kilometer-long Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal has become one of the greatest projects in the world and one of the man-made miracles created by mankind.
It has worked for five hundred years but is now obsolete.
This canal has been running for more than 500 years, through the Tang Dynasty, Five Dynasties, and Song Dynasty. By the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, it declined due to siltation of some river channels. It was replaced by the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. After the Yuan Dynasty replaced the Jin Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty, it made Beijing its capital and straightened the Grand Canal from north to south, no longer passing through Luoyang, shortening it by more than 900 kilometers. It has been running for more than 700 years until today. Later dynasties continued to use and build the Grand Canal in order to safeguard the vital interests of the ruling class.
Existing old roads: the Grand Canal in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the Southern Song Dynasty in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and the Song and Jin Dynasties in Huaihe River. The canal remained abandoned for a long time and was gradually buried underground. At present, there is an old water canal in Si County, which starts from Tanghe River in the west and ends at Shuikouwei in the east, with a total length of about 28 kilometers. The upper mouth of the Bianhe River is 30-50 meters wide, 6-8 meters deep, with a slope of 12, a water depth of 1.5-2 meters, and a new silt depth of about 1-2 meters. Although there are no boats, there is also the benefit of irrigation. Due to the unified standards for water conservancy dredging in the section from the west of the city to Tanghe: the river mouth is 30m wide, 6m deep, and the slope rate is 1/2, so the width of the river mouth is 10m less than the original.