Grand Canal
The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is one of the greatest ancient projects in China and is the longest man-made canal in world. It covers a total length of 1,794 kilometers, and meets five rivers of the Yangtze, Yellow, Huaihe, Haihe, and Qiantang rivers. It winds through Beijing, Tianjing, Hebei province, Shandong Province, Jiangsu Province and Zhejiang Province with Hangzhou at its southernmost end. The building of the Grand Canal began in the 5th century BC at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC). Later it had two large-scale expansions in both the Sui Dynasty (581-618) and the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). Before the new China in 1949, only a small part of the Grand Canal was navigatable.
Now large boats like 1000 ton can sial easily in over 400 kilometers in the araa of northern Jiangsu Province to get to the Yangtze River and the Huaihe River. The Grand Canal is actually made from the manmade canal and some natural rivers and lakes.
As you know,most of China's main rivers winds from west to east, but the Grand Canal flows north and south, offer a key link between several river systems. It has played a valuable role in developing economic and cultural exchange between north and south and pushing the development of the country's economy. Starting early 1980s', China started ancient canal tour routes from Wuxi to Yangzhou and Wuxi to Hangzhou, attracting much attention from tourists both from home and abroad. Visitors can enjoy the pectacular views, folk customs along the cities south of the Yangtze River.
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