I've always wanted to write about this topic, pondering it for a long time, and finally, I've written it. However, writing about the canal is not about the canal itself. Seeing the big picture from the small, the history of a canal is a history of China, witnessing too many dynastic changes and ups and downs. I believe that after reading this article, everyone will have a new understanding of many of our current realities, such as the choice of the city to settle in.

1. We have been building canals since ancient times.

When it comes to canals, most people's first reaction is the Grand Canal and the extravagant second-generation rich, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, Yang Guang. But we all know that the Chinese people are hardworking and brave, and history is written by the working people, not by someone's brain. The construction of canals is not something that Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty invented by himself.

Advertisement

The history of building canals in our country can be traced back a long way, and even the strategy of dredging and diverting waterways used by Yu the Great for flood control can be considered a kind of canal, but it was not used for transportation.

During the Spring and Autumn period, various countries were fighting fiercely, and war is actually a competition of resource strength. However, with resources, you must be able to transport them to the right place, otherwise, they can only be made into landscapes for people to watch.

Everyone knows a common sense that the cost of land transportation is more than 20 times that of water transportation. If the distance is a bit far, the deployment of resources has become an "impossible mission." This is also why it is difficult for the Central Plains to completely take over the northern grasslands and Xinjiang and Tibet in history. Attacking those places relies entirely on land transportation, which is too far. Even now, the cost of sea transportation for 10,000 kilometers is similar to that of land transportation for 300 kilometers, and everyone can feel the disparity.

In the late Spring and Autumn period, King Helü of Wu and Fu Chai of the southeast, who were the two generations, went forward bravely and worked hard, finally completing the great cause of hegemony. When offering sacrifices to their ancestors, they were very face-saving, claiming to be "vertical and horizontal between the Yangtze River and the Huai River," which means that the main activity of the Wu state was in the area of the Yangtze River and the Huai River. When Fu Chai became bigger and bigger, his ambitions also grew, and his goal was aimed at the northern Qi and Jin states.

However, Qi was in Shandong, and the main body of Wu was in Jiangsu. It was a bit expensive for people from Jiangsu to go to Shandong by land. To solve the transportation problem, King Fu Chai of Wu had a waterway built that could transport, which is the Han Gully, connecting the Yangtze River and the Huai River, and played a huge role in the war against Qi.

More than a hundred and twenty years later, Wei Huiji, who lived in the Yellow River basin, followed the example and built a canal connecting the Yellow River and the Huai River, named Hong Gully. This place also became famous worldwide because of the subsequent Chu-Han contention.

In the following history, building canals became a basic operation of an aggressive dynasty. Among them, there were some more crazy ones, such as Cao Cao, who built a canal directly to Guandou, the Suiyang Canal, in order to deal with Yuan Shao. Later, he became more and more addicted to building, and in order to sweep through Hebei, he successively carried out the Baigou, Liguan Canal, Pinglu Canal, Quanzhou Canal, Xinhe and other projects, forming the prototype of the entire Haihe River system.That is to say, before Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty started to build the canal, there were already many canals in China. Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty just inherited and developed the great cause of building the canal. Before I start, I want to tell you a point of knowledge. The Grand Canal we are familiar with was not built by Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty. The Grand Canal here refers to Beijing to Hangzhou. Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty, as a native of Shaanxi, later moved to Luoyang, Henan, and often went to Yangzhou for fun. It made no sense to build a Grand Canal from Beijing to Hangzhou. I found a picture, you can see that the green one is Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty, and the later Grand Canal of the Sui Dynasty is obviously a little straighter.     The Grand Canal of the Sui Dynasty we are talking about now was built by the Yuan Dynasty, and the one built by Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty is called the Grand Canal of the Sui Dynasty. Because the Tang Dynasty later carried forward the project of building the canal on this basis, it can also be collectively called the Grand Canal of the Sui and Tang Dynasties. Everyone must have common sense. The things that led to the demise of the Sui Dynasty were done by the Tang Dynasty again. However, the Tang Dynasty was lucky and capable, and it was bold and skilled. It not only did not suffer bad luck, but it also went crazy. At that time in the Tang Dynasty, the Turks had already split up, and the internal fighting was more fierce than that with the Tang Dynasty; and the Tang Dynasty had a deep routine, often leading a group of nomadic tribes to beat another group, using barbarians to beat barbarians. More importantly, the canal had been repaired by the unlucky Emperor Yang of Sui by 90%, and the Tang Dynasty could use the resources of the south to mess with the north. And the reason why the Sui Dynasty built the Grand Canal was definitely not to go to the south to get women as written in some unofficial history. In addition to taking money in their pockets, the construction of such a huge project was purely forced. An important reason here is the shift of the economic center of gravity to the south. 2. Economic southward shift Many people know that between the Western Jin Dynasty and the Eastern Jin Dynasty, in order to avoid war, the northern gentry took their money and production tools and fled to the south, and there was a saying of "the clothing and hats migrated south". In fact, it was not only the "clothes" who moved south, but also a large number of farmers. Everyone went to the south together to build a happy home. After arriving in the south, the planting of new varieties brought an increase in grain production. At the same time, the construction of some water conservancy projects also played a role in boosting productivity. Compared with the ruined north, the south was much more stable. The Taihu Lake area, known as the world's granary, thrived at this time.At the beginning of the Sui Dynasty, Emperor Wen of Sui, Yang Jian, identified a problem: there was not enough food in the Guanzhong region. During the famine years, the scene of widespread suffering was repeated. The early Tang Dynasty also faced similar issues. Emperor Gaozong of Tang, Li Zhi, along with his empress, fled to Luoyang seven times. The reasons were clearly stated in the imperial edicts, without any embellishment: the central officials were hungry, and the emperor led the ministers to seek help.

To solve the problem of feeding the central government, Emperor Wen of Sui thought for a while and found someone who was good at water conservancy to build the Guangtong Canal, opening up the water transport from Tongguan to Chang'an, allowing grain from the Yellow River to enter Chang'an. However, this only partially alleviated the food shortage in the Chang'an area. When Luoyang suffered from a drought, Emperor Wen of Sui personally went to Luoyang to inspect the work and found that there was also a shortage of grain supply there. Thus, the idea of building a grand canal from north to south was born, allowing people in the Central Plains to eat grain from the south.

In addition to transporting grain, the political and military purposes of building the canal were also very important. Before the Sui Dynasty, the country had been divided for too long, and the southern gentry were used to being free and unruly, often causing uprisings and troubles. The Turks in the north also coveted the Central Plains Dynasty and were keen on causing frictions daily. The waterways that could transport troops, weapons, and grain became a good solution for the Sui Dynasty.

Emperor Yang of Sui inherited his father's empire and wealth, as well as his father's idea of building a canal. As for whether he inherited his father's women, that is unknown. By the way, the later Tang Dynasty court also had this problem of sons inheriting their fathers' women, similar to the northern nomadic tribes. Moreover, the direct cause of the Xuanwu Gate Incident was that Li Yuan's concubine accused Li Shimin of indecency, and Li Shimin also said that his brother had an affair with that concubine. Li Shimin's son did have an affair with Li Shimin's concubine, which shows that the previous events may not all be false.

In the second year of Emperor Yang of Sui's reign, he began to build the Grand Canal, which took six years to complete. Centered on Luoyang, it extended north to today's Beijing and south to today's Hangzhou, with a total length of nearly 2,700 kilometers, connecting five major water systems.

However, everyone can think a little and know that this canal was definitely not dug out of the ground. Even if it were put into today's infrastructure mania, it would be difficult to dig out such a canal in six years.

In fact, Yang Guang made full use of the fruits of the labor of previous generations and connected the canals mentioned earlier in our text. It is similar to the Panama Canal, which connects existing lakes and seas through artificial waterways, making full use of the original natural resources.

To show that I have no intention of speaking well of Yang Guang, I will also explain that the excavation of these two sections of the canal only took six months. To rush the schedule, a huge price was paid. Historical records show that the death toll of workers reached 40-50%, and the scene on the construction site was very bloody.

Since then, the prototype of the Sui and Tang Grand Canal has been basically completed. Although Emperor Yang of Sui's purpose was to center on Luoyang, by the Tang Dynasty, through the Guangji Canal built by Emperor Wen of Sui, the center was moved back to Chang'an, and it was continuously reinforced and repaired.

The emergence of the Grand Canal solved countless food and disaster relief problems for the Tang Dynasty and continued a glorious history for Chang'an City, which might have been on the decline.In the year 755 AD, the An Lushan Rebellion erupted, and by the time the Tang Dynasty fell in 907 AD, a total of one hundred and fifty-three years had passed, a duration comparable to the lifespan of the Southern Song Dynasty. During this prolonged period, the Tang Dynasty's control over the Hedong region was severely weakened, and for most of the time, it was in a state of disarray. The main reason why the Tang Dynasty was able to endure for so long was its reliance on the grain and taxes from the Jianghuai region.

Through the river channels, trade and economic exchanges were promoted, and the wealth and talents of the world were continuously transported to Chang'an. Coupled with the Tang Dynasty's exploration of the Western Regions, Chang'an became the world's leading city at that time.

At the same time, for the south, to become rich, one must first build roads. With the waterways well-developed, the market was further expanded, and opportunities for entrepreneurship, business, and wealth accumulation arose.

Southern products such as brocade, mirrors, bronze ware, seafood, tortoiseshell, pearls, ivory, agarwood, oranges, and tea were sold to the vast north, and even transported further west through the Silk Road.

By the late Tang Dynasty, Yangzhou had become the center of China's shipbuilding industry, and Nanchang was a shipbuilding base. The number and technology of Tang Dynasty ships had reached an unprecedented level.

The period of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms following the Tang Dynasty was another chaotic era, especially the Five Dynasties, which were constantly in turmoil in the north, with warlords dividing the land and endless wars turning the northern cities into ruins once again.

When the Northern Song Dynasty arrived, Zhao, the eldest, searched the map for a long time and ultimately chose Kaifeng as the capital. This event was actually very important, as it marked the establishment of the eastward shift of China's political center. Since then, the political center has never returned to Guanzhong, and Chang'an began an unstoppable decline.

During the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhan Cheng rice was introduced from Vietnam, which was very resistant and adaptable to the environment, comparable to cockroaches. It had a very short growth cycle, from planting to harvest, only taking 50 days. This technological advancement also changed China to a certain extent. With the repair of water conservancy and the development of agricultural technology, the agricultural production status of the Jiangnan region in the country was further strengthened.

In the fields of handicraft production, metallurgy, and textile industry, the south was far ahead of the north. As a symbolic specialty of China, the porcelain industry in the south has also caught up with the north. The Ge kiln in Longquan, Zhejiang, is famous for producing celadon, known as the "thousand peaks of emerald green"; while Xinping in Jiangxi is the national center for porcelain production. During the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of Song, an official kiln was built here, which is the famous Jingdezhen.

By the Southern Song Dynasty, Emperor Gaozong, who crossed the river on a clay horse, fled to Hangzhou in a hurry, and the political center and economic focus further moved to the southeast region. Since then, the southward shift of China's economic center was completely completed.After the Mongols arrived, it was impossible for them to choose a southern city as their capital, after all, it was too far from their hometown, and it would be too troublesome to visit the graves of their ancestors. Moreover, if they couldn't make a go of it in the Central Plains, the journey back to the grasslands couldn't be too long. So Kublai Khan chose Beijing as the capital.

Now when people look at Beijing, they feel that this city is not quite like other world-class cities. There were sandstorms a few days ago, extremely hot summers and extremely cold winters, not adjacent to a big river, and the terrain is not particularly flat. It doesn't seem like a super city at all.

Because it wasn't originally. In fact, Beijing is a frontier fortress, located at the boundary between nomadic tribes and the Central Plains civilization. Have you seen "Game of Thrones"? The significance of Beijing is similar to the Wall in the North in the story. So during the Republic of China period, when Beijing was renamed Beiping and was no longer the capital, it quickly declined and was completely surpassed by Tianjin. Beijing has grown so big, not as a result of natural development, but because it has always been the political center, with a large amount of energy input, just like a rich second generation, always receiving money from their father.

For example, when the Mongols established their capital in Beijing, they still needed supplies from the south for food and clothing. It was not realistic to transport by land, as carrying some food was not even enough for their own consumption on the road. If they wanted to transport by water, they could either use the canal or go by sea. The failure of two attempts to conquer Japan left some psychological shadows on the Mongols, and the inland canal was obviously more stable and safer.

However, the Sui and Tang Dynasty Grand Canal had to detour through Luoyang, which was time-consuming and labor-intensive, so the Yuan Dynasty prepared to build a canal that could run through the north and south. After all, the lives of the people in the south were not valuable, so they could catch strong laborers to build it. (The Yuan Dynasty divided people into four levels, with the southern Han people called "Nanren" being the lowest level.)

The Yuan Dynasty utilized some sections of the Sui and Tang Grand Canal and focused on opening up the Shandong area, forming what we now call the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. It can be divided into seven sections: Beijing-Tongzhou, Tongzhou-Tianjin, Tianjin-Linqing; Linqing-Taierzhuang; Taierzhuang-Huaiyin; Huaiyin-Yangzhou; Zhenjiang-Hangzhou.

Among them, the section from Linqing to Taierzhuang is called the Huìtōng River (the scope of Huìtōng River in the Ming Dynasty was wider than in the Yuan Dynasty). When the Yuan Dynasty built it, it was dug shallow, and the transportation capacity was limited, so the grain transport of the Yuan Dynasty still needed some support from sea transport. The Yuan Dynasty had a relatively short life, and there were disturbances everywhere, so there was no more energy to repair the canal. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the Yellow River broke its banks and directly blocked this section of the canal.

3. The Ming Dynasty continued to repair

When Zhu Di moved the capital to Beijing, the matter of repairing the canal was put on the agenda again.

By the way, Zhu Di's move of the capital was not about "the people of Nanjing did not welcome him," but mainly strategic considerations. After all, as the core of the northern fortress group, Beijing must have a large number of field armies stationed.However, entrusting these troops to anyone's management was a hidden danger, as there was always the possibility of them marching southward and overthrowing the emperor at any time. So, like all unstable systems, after several rounds of turmoil, they finally settled into a stable state. This state was the emperor himself going to Beijing, leading the troops, which is also known as "the Son of Heaven guarding the national gate." This stable state has been maintained for the next five or six hundred years.

As for the fact that everyone found that Beijing was often besieged, it was also normal, as it was originally a fortress, similar to an aircraft carrier, built for fighting, and being besieged occasionally was healthier.

After Zhu Di ascended to the throne, on the one hand, to continue the attack on the Northern Yuan, on the other hand, the huge central government moved to Beijing, both required a large amount of resources, so they started large-scale construction of canals again.

At this time, the economy of the south had taken off completely, and the north needed continuous energy supply from the south, just like a stove needs continuous fuel to keep burning. The "Yangtze River Delta" we are talking about now did not appear after the reform and opening up, but appeared in the late Tang Dynasty, and had already taken shape in the Song Dynasty, when there was no Shanghai, which can be called the "Huainan Lake area."

The so-called Huainan Lake area mainly refers to five states of Runzhou, Changzhou, Suzhou, Hangzhou, and Huzhou in ancient times, and Runzhou is now Zhenjiang. These areas have been rich from a thousand years ago to the present, and after the rise of maritime trade, Shanghai was added. From a historical perspective, Shanghai is actually a younger brother, appearing very late, until the Qing Dynasty was forced to open the port after the first Opium War, and then it rose rapidly.

The water system of the Huainan Lake area itself is very rich, and people have been continuously building various small canals, forming a huge water system, further reducing transportation costs, and absorbing more people into this system. You all remember the previous article I wrote about "Hui merchants," right? Huizhou merchants were originally in the mountains, and later they went to Hangzhou to do business along the waterway, and gradually became more and more prosperous.

As early as the time of Emperor Yang of Sui, this area was already very prosperous, so one section of Emperor Yang's canal just penetrated and connected this area, making the Huainan Lake area an integral part of the entire northern mainstream market.

Not only that, the Taihu Lake area has achieved the canal, and the canal has also achieved the Taihu Lake area. It is precisely the construction of the canal that has improved the level of water transportation in the Taihu Lake area, and now we are familiar with those cities, such as Suzhou, Hangzhou, and Yangzhou, which have become commodity distribution centers and have rapidly prospered.

The complete connection between various waters has led to a sharp decline in transportation costs, and the economy of this area has become more active. The current economy of this area can also be comparable to that of a developed country, which is inseparable from their good transportation environment.In the late Tang Dynasty, the tax revenue from the Taihu Lake area became increasingly important. As mentioned earlier, after the An Lushan Rebellion, the Tang Dynasty had essentially become a fragmented state, but with the resources from the Taihu Lake region, the Tang Dynasty managed to survive for another century or so.

During the Song Dynasty, the third wave of immigration brought in 5 million immigrants to the Taihu Lake area, ensuring both labor force and production capacity, making it possible for this region to become the granary of the world. This led to the sayings "When Suzhou and Hangzhou are bountiful, the whole world is sufficient" and "The foundation of the country relies on the southeast." To add a point, it is difficult to distinguish between "southerners" and "northerners" here, as many people are from the north, and the population in that area was very sparse, with waves of immigrants filling up the south throughout the dynasties.

In the Ming Dynasty, the tax grain from this area accounted for one-fifth of the national total at that time. The Taihu Lake region, centered around Suzhou, officially became the economic center of the whole country.

At this time, people produced more than enough food for their own consumption, and there was a surplus. What should they do? Of course, they would sell it to those who lacked food in exchange for cattle, horses, and other goods.

With agricultural products as a commodity, coupled with the excellent water, sea, and land transportation in this area, the commercialization of agriculture naturally flourished.

However, as time went on, people became unsatisfied again. Some restless individuals keenly realized that the profit from growing grain was too thin, and they needed to develop higher value-added products. Yes, this is industrial upgrading. Industrial upgrading may sound high-end and only appear in the news, but in fact, it is very simple and down-to-earth, which is just that people want to live a better life.

Residents in the Taihu Lake area began to plant a large number of economic crops such as mulberry, cotton, tea, and tobacco. Especially mulberry and cotton, these crops are not as easy as rice, and the threshold for industrialization is very high, requiring a large amount of capital investment. Moreover, it is not something that a few people can handle; it requires a large number of people. Does it sound a bit like the current infrastructure construction?

Engaging in these industries first solved the problem of capital allocation. Wealthy people investing in the real economy is more conducive to social stability than bullying and opening gambling houses and brothels. Second, it solved the problem of surplus labor force, that is, employment issues. Third, the industrialization of economic crops brought more substantial profits.

During the Guangxu period, there were countless mulberry trees in Jiaxing, and in some counties of the Taihu Lake area, cotton fields accounted for 90% of the total arable land.

The vigorous development of economic crops once again brought about industrial upgrading, that is, further processing. If I sell my grain to other places and earn two yuan, and people from other places brew it into wine and sell it for five yuan, why don't I brew it myself locally?For the more ordinary laborer, Wang Ergou, one day he found that he could support himself just by weaving cloth, so he no longer personally tilled the land. The craftsmen and agricultural production were separated, and they themselves became a part of the commodity trade, which ultimately led to the emergence of regional industry division of labor.

The trade of goods requires a place, and this place will gradually become fixed over time, which is the market town. There were no market towns in the world originally, but as more and more people traded, market towns emerged. Market towns further promote commercial activities, and merchants from surrounding areas go to a certain place to trade. Over time, people in that place will appear to be more skilled in trading than people in other places.

This "siphon effect" is very powerful. For example, during the Qing Dynasty, a large number of Shanxi merchants also went south to the Suzhou and Hangzhou area to trade, so they also became "Southerners". Therefore, the composition of the current Southerners is very complex, such as the Hakka people in Guangdong, who are immigrants from the north to the south. More intuitively, Hainan, as one of the "Northeast Four Provinces", it is difficult to say whether the Hainan Northeast people are southerners or northerners after a few decades.

So we often say that "Southerners" are good at trading, which is not very accurate, because people in other places besides those two triangles do not have obvious advantages, and the economy is just like that, and the people in those two triangles are not purely Southerners.

It is obvious to say this, the environment and people are a mutually evolving relationship. The Yangtze River Delta area is a big market by nature, and the market will cultivate merchants, and merchants will make the market bigger and bigger.

4. The Rebirth of the Canal

With the rise of modern industry, the agriculture and handicraft industry in the Taihu Lake area have encountered unprecedented difficulties. First, at the end of the 19th century, tea was impacted by tea from India, Sri Lanka and other countries, and declined. Secondly, in the 1930s of the 20th century, the cloth and textile industry also declined one after another.

In addition, after the outbreak of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom War, Suzhou and Hangzhou were turned into ruins, and merchants and capital from Suzhou and Hangzhou fled to Shanghai. I talked about this when I talked about the Hui merchants before, and the foothold of the Hui merchants was Hangzhou. After the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, they also went to Shanghai, and finally made the leader of the Yangtze River Delta change from the canal city of Suzhou to Shanghai.

In the late Qing Dynasty, the development of merchant ships was rapid, and the sea was no longer as terrifying and unpredictable as before. The Qing government began to abandon the costly canal and instead used sea transport to transport materials from the south to the north, and the canal gradually lost its original function.

However, in modern times, the new China has been working on canals, continuing to connect various water systems, and widening the river channels to increase the water depth. In 2020, a "two horizontal, one vertical, two networks, and eighteen lines" waterway layout will be formed on our country's territory, and there will be 28 main ports distributed in it. That one vertical is the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. It can be seen that this thing is still very important now.Despite the extensive discussion in the article, it is not merely about the canal itself, but rather an opportunity for everyone to appreciate the relationship between the economies of the north and south over a thousand years through the lens of the canal.

Moreover, through this article, it becomes clear that the rapid growth of the Pearl River Delta and the Yangtze River Delta after the reform and opening up is not a coincidence. It is actually a continuation of a trend that has been ongoing for a thousand years, and the fact that Beijing cannot drive the growth of its surrounding areas is also a trend, after all, it has not successfully driven them before.

The subsequent trend is also quite clear. Even in a country like the United States, the central region is now being emptied out, and the population is moving towards the two coasts. Observing the increase in housing prices over the past hundred years, it is mainly the big cities on the two coasts that are rising, while many other areas are not even keeping up with inflation.

After reading this article, I believe everyone will have a new perspective when facing related choices in the future.