Rise and Fall of the Grand Canal

By staff reporter HUO JIANYING

This Qing Dynasty painting depicts the prosperity the Tongzhou section of the Grand Canal.

Every time Emperor Yangdi went to Yangzhou, commandeered 80,000 labors to tow his fleet of barges.

The Grand Canal in Zaozhuang, Shandong Province.

Ancient wharf in a village along the Canal.

Today’s bargees on the Grand Canal.

Serious water shortages in Beijing, Tianjin and northern China generally are the impetus behind the ambitious South-to-North Water Diversion Project, whose aim is to divert water from the Yangtze River into North China. It is the biggest project of its kind in the world.

The South-to-North Water Diversion Project will channel water from the upper, middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River along a western, central and eastern route. The eastern route will make use of the 1800-km-long Grand Canal, built 1,400 years ago that starts in South China’s Hangzhou City and ends in Beijing.

The Grand Canal is an engineering feat rivaling that of the Great Wall. It has played a pivotal role in nation’s economy in the past 1,400 years, and has been integral to people’s livelihoods throughout the historical progress of the Chinese nation.

The Sui Decline and Tang Rise

The Grand Canal is unfortunately synonymous with Yang Guang (569-618), tyrannical Emperor Yangdi of the Sui Dynasty (581-618). Many believe that the emperor’s motivation for building the canal was simply to command a more convenient conveyance to South China’s Yangzhou City, where he frequently sojourned to enjoy its rare flowers and aesthetic delights. In any event, the canal’s construction exhausted Sui manpower and financial resources and was a contributing factor to the downfall of this short-lived dynasty. As Tang Dynasty (618-907) poet Hu Zeng wrote, “Once the thousand-li canal was dug, waves crashed down from the ninth heaven and overthrew the Sui Dynasty, and there was turmoil as the emperor sailed to South China, never to return.”

Tang poet Pi Rixiu took a more objective view. He expressed the view in one of his poems that although the Sui downfall was caused by the 1,000-km canal. If not for Emperor Yangdi’s extravagance, his achievements in water conservancy could equal those of Yu the Great.” This comment defines the canal’s role in the Emperor Yangdi’s merits and demerits (the legendary emperor of ancient China admired and revered for the engineering genius that enabled him to tame the volatile Yellow River).

The canal undoubtedly caused the demise of the Sui Dynasty, yet it brought untold benefits to the succeeding Tang Dynasty.

The Grand Canal of the Sui Dynasty was 900 meters longer than today’s Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, as it turned westward half way to the Sui’s Eastern capital Luoyang and then Capital Xi’an before heading back eastward to continue on the south-north route. Emperor Yangdi was not entirely misguided in investing so much manpower and financial resources in this huge project. The canal actually safeguarded and strengthened Sui Dynasty centralized rule as well as fulfilling its political, economic and military needs. Prior to its unification under the Sui Dynasty China had been war torn and fragmented for centuries, and a canal connecting the north to the south was imperative for several reasons. The Sui Dynasty political headquarters were in the north and its economic center was in the south. Grain had hitherto been transported from the South by road, but in quantities insufficient to solve grain deficiency in the north. Construction of a waterway was, necessary to link the south and north as a supplement to land transport. The canal was also invaluable for transportation of soldiers, goods and materials to border areas where there were separatist regimes resisting unification.

The ruthless and tyrannical Emperor Yangdi’s obsession with personal grandeur led to his downfall. He insisted on finishing the project in the shortest time possible, without a thought for the hardship and suffering its construction caused the millions of civilians forced to work on each section. As from the year 605, 3.6 million civilians were commandeered during the six years the canal took to build. When no able-bodied men were available, woman laborers were put to work. The Sui court ordered every five families to release one young, old, or female family member to cook for manual laborers on the project. An army of overseers supervised the work, liberally administering their whips. The unreasonable time limit and pitiless work schedule resulted in a mortality rate of 40-50 percent. The country’s agriculture also suffered as a result of insufficient manpower left over from building the canal to work in the fields. Farms in some areas simply lay to waste. This parlous state of affairs sparked off successive peasant uprisings that continued seven years after completion of the canal, and eventually let to the downfall of the Sui Dynasty. Mutinous subordinates hanged Emperor Yangdi on the barge heading for Yangzhou, where his body was laid to rest.

People’s Livelihood, Nation’s Lifeblood

The Grand Canal is the only waterway in China that runs from south to north. It links five major rivers – the Huaihe, Yellow, Huihe, Yangtze and Qiantangjiang -- forming a water transport network that covers eastern China. Beijing would not have been capital of the Yuan (1271-1368), Ming (1368-1644) or Qing (1644-1911) dynasties if not for the canal’s round-the-clock grain transport capability that was integral to the continuing rule of each regime. Throughout the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties 200 million kilograms grain were transported to Beijing every year via the Grand Canal. In addition, large amounts of commodities such as salt, silks and satins and porcelains were delivered to Beijing by water transport.

When Beijing was made capital of the Yuan Dynasty, the imperial administration’s first major project was renovation of the Grand Canal. As Xi’an and Luoyang no longer served as capitals, the roundabout western section was abandoned. The waterway subsequently became what was hence known as the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. Brisk business along the canal generated great tax revenues, and as a result the Grand Canal contributed five million taels (1 liang = 50 grams) of silver to the Yuan court’s annual income.

According to Ming Dynasty historical data, “ …the emperor, his ministers and Six Imperial Armies all waited for grain transports from South China. If they did not arrive after three months, the emperor was anxious, and if they had still not arrived after six months, the citizens despaired. If the people were deprived of food, the country would be bound to collapse within one year.” This observation was no exaggeration, having been made with the benefit of hindsight. In the last years of the Yuan Dynasty rebellious peasants encircled the capital and prevented deliveries of grain along the canal for one year, causing 200,000 people to starve to death. The court resorted to sea transport of grain, but amounts were far from enough and after a few years the granaries were empty. Emperor Shundi had no choice but to flee, and the Yuan Court was overthrown.

Rulers of successive dynasties consequently took great care to ensure that transport along the Grand Canal was smooth, as regular shipments of grain to the capital were crucial to the nation’s economy and the people’s livelihood. When Ming Emperor Zhudi decided to make Beijing his capital, he mobilized financial resources sufficient to dredge the canal, thereby facilitating a route along which construction materials and food supplies could be delivered to the Forbidden City.

The transport office was always a key department during imperial times, and its officials commanded enough clout to extort fortunes. During the Qing Dynasty, director-generals of grain transport were often also local administrative commanders. The director-general commanded 120,000 soldiers and 10,000 ships. To ensure smooth transport along the Grand Canal, the Qing government established the post of Director-general of the Grand Canal in charge of waterway maintenance and control.

Water-generated Wealth

The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal hastened economic development of cities along its banks, and boosted wealth and prosperity in South China. Between the Tang Dynasty and mid-18th Century, Huai’an, Yangzhou, Zhenjiang, Changzhou, Wuxi, Suzhou and Hangzhou were the most prosperous Chinese cities with the greatest accumulation of wealth. Yangzhou was the richest. Historical documents show that the annual income of Yangzhou merchants amounted to 15 million taels, as compared to the Qing court’s annual revenue of 23 million taels. Yangzhou’s beautiful natural landscape also attracted Qing emperors Kangxi and Qianlong who, like Emperor Yangdi, made several trips to South China. Marco Polo, who came to China in the 13th century, held an official position in Yangzhou for three years and the people of Yangzhou built a memorial hall in his honor.

The Grand Canal, like the Great Wall, is a monument to Chinese engineering skill and as such, a source of national pride. Its revival as a means of bringing much-needed water to North China is highly appropriate as well as essential.