History of canals in China
Chinese canal network | ||
---|---|---|
Hanyu Pinyin Cáoyùn Xìtǒng | | |
Wade–Giles | Ts‘ao-yün Hsi-t‘ung |
The history of canals in China connecting its
History
Ancient China
The main
.Since China's rivers generally run from the western highlands to the
In 486 BCE, men under
Qin dynasty
In 214 BCE the first Chinese Emperor
Han dynasty
During the
Sui and Tang dynasties
Although the
At the time of Emperor Jingzong of Tang (r. 824–827) the canal system had become too shallow. This restricted the movement of salt and iron which were important government monopolies so to solve the problem seven rivers were diverted to the east.
Song dynasty
During the Song dynasty the capital Daliang (大梁), modern day Kaifeng, used the Bian Yellow, Huimin (惠民河) and Guangji (广济河) Rivers as part of the canal network. In 976 CE during the reign of Emperor Taizong of Song more than 55 million bushels of grain were moved along the Bian River to the capital. By the time of Emperor Renzong of Song (r. 1022–763) the amount had increased to 80 million bushels.
Yuan dynasty
The Yuan Dynasty saw the establishment of a government body in the form of a "Si" (司) near the capital to oversee the canal system. Known as the Huai & Yangtze Rivers Grain Transport Office, (江淮都漕运司) this was an offshoot of the Three Departments and Six Ministries of the administrative third grade or "San Pin" (三品). This office was responsible for arranging grain transportation to the Luan River (滦河) then onwards to the capital at Dadu (modern day Beijing) using more than 3,000 boats. Sea-based transportation within the grain taxation system was also important with canals playing a subsidiary role.
Ming dynasty
In 1368, the first year of the reign of the Ming Hongwu Emperor, the Capital Grain Transport Office (京畿都漕运司) was established under the auspices of a fourth grade (四品) commissioner. At the same time, the canal system's governor-general's office was set up in the prefectural capital of Huai'an, Jiangsu Province. Its responsibilities were to manage the canal network and ensure that annual grain shipments remained at around 40 million tons. Boatyards were also established in Anqing, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Jiujiang, Zhangshu and Raozhou (饶州) (modern day Poyang County). At Huai'an, a boatyard 15 km (9.3 mi) northwest of the Yangtze River ran for a distance of 23 Chinese miles (c. 11.5 km (7.1 mi). Overall responsibility for all these locations lay with a department of the Ministry of Works. Every year, regulations fixed the total amount of tax payable by the entire country in grain via the canal system at 29.5 million bushels. Of this, 12 million bushels were allocated to local governments, 8 million bushels supported the army on the northern border, 1.2 million bushels went to the capital in Nanjing whilst 8.2 million bushels were used to supply Beijing.
From 1415 onwards, imperial regulations stated that the grain taxation system should use only the country's canal network; thereafter all seaborne transportation stopped.[1] This situation remained virtually unchanged until the beginning of the 19th century and as a result, during both the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the volume of the grain tax transported via the Grand Canal far exceeded that of the preceding Yuan Dynasty.
During the Ming dynasty the usage pattern of the canal system went through three successive phases. At first the "zhiyun" (支运) variant evolved as grain tax transportation switched from the sea to the country's canal and river network. At Huai’an, Xuzhou, Linqing and other locations, warehouses were established to store taxes paid in grain and delivered by the local population. This was then shipped north to provision the army once every quarter. Storage became unnecessary with the advent of the "duiyun" (兑运) form where taxes paid by the common people were partly used to directly pay the transportation fees for army supplies on the journey north.[8] 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%.”[9]
Administrative Area |
Subdivision | Amount (bushels 石) |
---|---|---|
Zhejiang | 630,000 | |
Jiangxi | 570,000 | |
Hebei | 380,000 | |
Shandong | 375,000 | |
Huguang | 250,000 | |
Southern Zhili
|
1,794,400 | |
Suzhou | 697000 | |
Songjiang (松江府) | 232,950 | |
Changzhou | 175,000 | |
Nanjing (应天府) | 128,000 | |
Huai'an | 104,000 | |
Zhenjiang | 102,000 | |
Yangzhou | 97,000 | |
Anqing | 60,000 | |
Fengyang
|
60,000 | |
Xuzhou | 48,000 | |
Ningguo | 30,000 | |
Chizhou | 25,000 | |
Taiping | 17,000 | |
Luzhou | 10,000 | |
Guangde | 8,000 |
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 21 July 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.[citation needed]
- The 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 such that the importance of the Grand Canal and the towns along its banks significantly dropped.
People's Republic
During the
The South–North Water Transfer Project is still ongoing, with the central route completed in 2014.
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-9770159-4-8.
- ^ "The Significance of the Caoyun System in Imperial China (中国古代漕运的社会意义)" (in Chinese). Retrieved November 15, 2010.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-521-07060-7.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-935173-2.
- ISBN 0-415-06042-7. p. 636
- )
- ISBN 1403934568), p. 50.
- ^ "History of Ming" Food Commodities Chapter 3《明史•食货志三》
- ^ "Supplement to the Great Learning " (《大學衍義補》)“河漕視陸運之費省什三四,海運視陸運之費省什七八”
- ^ "Red Flag Canal".
- ^ "Red Flag Canal". 5 January 1970 – via www.imdb.com.
- ^ "People's Daily Online -- Senior Party official visits "red flag canal spirit" display".
- ^ "【黑金刚官网】双张检测器厂家,双层检测器,双张检测仪,双张重叠检测器,双片检测器".
- ^ "Red Flag Canal". www.css.washington.edu. Archived from the original on 2012-08-05. Retrieved 2018-02-03.
- ^ "CCTV International". www.cctv.com.
- ^ "Repudiating Antonioni's Anti-China Film". www.marxists.org.
Further reading
- Huang Renyu (2005), 《明代漕运》 [Míngdài Cáoyùn, Canal Transport during the Ming], Beijing: Nova Publishing, ISBN 7-80148-767-2. (in Chinese)
- Li Wenzhi; et al. (1995), 《清代漕运》 [Qīngdài Cáoyùn, Canal Transport during the Qing], Beijing: Zhonghua Publishing, ISBN 7-101-01238-8. (in Chinese)
- Li Zhiting (1997), 《中國漕運史》 [Zhōngguó Cáoyùn Shǐ, A History of Chinese Canal Transport], Taipei: Wenjin Publishing, ISBN 957-668-443-9. (in Chinese)