Brief information on Grand Canal  

The Grand Canal, also known as the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, is the world’s oldest and longest canal, far surpassing the Suez and Panama Canals, the next two giant canals of the world. The canal goes from Beijing in the North to Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang Province in the South, flows through Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang Provinces, and interconnects the five rivers; Haihe, Yellow, Huanhe, Qiangtang, and Yangtze.

The Grand Canal is a great engineering project created by the ancient Chinese. It is also a precious human heritage left by the ancestors. In 604AD, the emperor Yangdi of the Sui Dynasty left his capital city - Changan (today’s Xian) and cruised to Luoyang, a city which interested him. The next year, he ordered the capital to be moved to Luoyang and Great Canal to be built. After six years of efforts from thousands of labourers, the original small canals were connected and formed the new Great Canal which is in total 1,764 kilometers long. From then on, the Great Canal played an important role in Chinese history, transporting foods and goods from South to North China and greatly promoted the administration and defense of China as a union, strengthening economic and cultural exchange between the North and the South.

The construction and evolution of the Grand Canal can be divided into 3 main periods:
The first period: This is the infancy of the Grand Canal. In 486 B.C. during the reign of Fu Chai who was the king of Wu State in the Spring and Autumn Period, Han’gou Canal section in Yangzhou was dug to link up with the Huaihe River and Yangtze River. In the Warring States Period, canals of Dagou and Honggou sections were dug to connect the Yangtze River, Huaihe River, Yellow River and Jishui River.

The second period: The Grand Canal in this period mainly referred to the canal system in Sui Dynasty. Centering on Luoyang, the Tongji Canal section was dug to connect the communication between the Yellow River and Huaihe River; canals of Han’gou and Jiangnan were reconstructed; Yongji Canal section was dug to connect to Zhuojun, and together with Guangtong Canal formed a canal system with many branches.

The third period: The Grand Canal in this period was extended continuously in Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. In 1293, the Grand Canal became navigable and was essentially complete, very similar to the Grand Canal in its current state.

The Grand Canal illustrates that ancient China had advanced technologies of water conservancy and shipping, and gave birth to numerous famous cities and towns. Together with the Great Wall, it is reputed as one of the two marvelous projects of ancient China and became known worldwide.

If you wish to enjoy the attractive scenery of the Great Canal, then please try to take a boat down the old Chinese Canal. Here you can not only appreciate landscapes of typical river towns in southern China, including ancient dwellings, stone bridges of traditional designs and historical relics but also taste delicious foods and experience the unique culture.

*You can download the bilingual note to show it to a taxi driver or someone else to find your way to Grand Canal if you plan to visit Grand Canal and have language problems.

Location:  Jianggan District
Transportation: Buses: K4, 504