Ancient China The main
logistics chains of
ancient China were along the
natural rivers of the country. One major example was the occasion when the
state of
Jin suffered a severe crop failure in 647BCE and the
Mu Duke of
Qin provided several thousand tons of grain by barges. These traveled from his capital at Yong () in present-day
Fengxiang,
Shaanxi, along the
Wei,
Yellow, and
Fen Rivers to the Jin capital at Jiang (
t,
s) in
Yicheng,
Shanxi. Since China's rivers generally run from the western highlands to the
Yellow and
East China Seas, all parallel to one another, there was great incentive to connect the river systems by canals. The canals also assisted
flood control. The oldest known was probably the Hong or
Honggou Canal (
t s Hónggōu, "Canal of the Wild Geese"), which linked the
Yellow River near present-day
Kaifeng to the
Si and
Bian Rivers. Details of its construction have been lost, with it first appearing in the historical record in
Su Qin's discussion of state boundaries in and
Sima Qian placing its construction just after his discussion of the supposed works of
Yu the Great. By way of the Honggou, this then connected to the Yellow River and its networks beyond. This eased Wu's supply lines during Fuchai's war with
Qi, which was concluded successfully at the
Battle of Ailing, solidifying Fuchai's position as
hegemon over the other states of his time. During 483 and 482BCE, Fuchai's men then built the
Heshui Canal (
t s Héshuǐ Yùnhé) connecting the Si with the
Ji, This canal along with the
Zhengguo Canal in Shaanxi Province and the
Dujiangyan Irrigation System in
Sichuan Province are known as “The three great hydraulic engineering projects of the Qin dynasty”.
Han dynasty During the
Chu–Han Contention (206–202BCE), General
Xiao He used the Wei River to transport provisions for his army, thereby creating an effective logistics supply network. In 129BCE, the sixth year of
Emperor Wu, a canal was cut through the northern foothills of the
Qin Mountains running parallel to the Wei River linking
Tong Pass with
Chang’an and greatly reducing the amount of time needed to transport goods between the two cities.
Sui and Tang dynasties Although the
Sui dynasty lasted only 37 years from 581 until 618, its rulers made a major contribution to improving the canal system. The
Grand Canal became a major factor in economic growth and political unity by connecting north and south, allowing transport of tax grain and
control of the sale of salt. The
Hai,
Yellow,
Huai,
Yangtze and Qiantang Rivers were all interlinked through the construction of canals thus laying the groundwork for further development during later dynasties. During the third stage known as "
changyun" (长运) or "
gaidui" (改兌), the army took responsibility for the movement of grain from south of the Yangtze River. According to Ming dynasty scholar
Qiu Jun (邱濬): “Use of the river and canal network saved 30–40% of costs compared to road transportation whereas the savings achieved using sea-borne transport were 70%–80%.”
Qing dynasty Although the
Qing dynasty continued to use the existing canal system it had numerous disadvantages and caused the government many headaches. In 1825 during the reign of the
Daoguang Emperor a maritime shipping office was established in
Shanghai with a grain tax receiving station at
Tianjin.
Qishan and other senior ministers thereafter managed the first grain shipments by sea. Operations in Tianjin quickly grew to outstrip those based in
Linqing, Shandong Province. Before the
First Opium War of 1839–42 and the
Second Opium War (1856–60), yearly grain-tax maritime shipments reached around 4 million bushels of grain per annum. A series of events towards the end of the Qing dynasty led to the ultimate decline of the canal system: • On the 21July 1842, during the later stages of the First Opium War, British troops
attacked and occupied Zhenjiang near the confluence of the Grand Canal and Yangtze River, effectively blocking operation of the canal system and its grain taxes. As a result, the Qing Daoguang Emperor decided to sue for peace and agreed to sign the
Treaty of Nanking which brought hostilities to an end. • The
Taiping Rebellion of 1850–64 resulted in the loss of Nanjing and the Anhui segment of the Yangtze River for ten years from 1853 onwards thereby curtailing the canal network. During the war with the rebels, major canal side towns including Yangzhou,
Qingjiangpu (清江浦), Linqing, Suzhou and Hangzhou suffered serious damage or were razed to the ground. • After the
Yellow River changed course in its floods between 1851 and 1855, the canals in the Shandong region gradually silted up. Thereafter, the principal routes for grain shipment were maritime. • In 1872, an office to promote investment in steamships was established in Shanghai when steamships became the official vessels used within the grain-tax system. • All canal-based traffic of the grain tax ceased in 1901. • The post of canal system's governor-general was abolished in 1904 • 1911 saw the opening of the
Jinpu railway linking
Tianjin and
Zhenjiang such that the importance of the Grand Canal and the towns along its banks significantly dropped.
People's Republic During the
Great Leap Forward, the
Red Flag Canal was built entirely by hand as an irrigation canal diverting water from the
Zhang River to fields in
Linzhou in northern
Henan. Completed in 1965, the main channel is long, winding around the side of a cliff and through 42 tunnels. It was celebrated within China and was the subject of several movies, including a section of
Michelangelo Antonioni's 1972 documentary
Chung Kuo. The
South–North Water Transfer Project is still ongoing, with the central route completed in 2014. == References ==