Grand Canal of China

The 1,700 kilometer canal that linked north and south China, moved tax grain for 1,300 years and still carries freight.

Overview

Sections date to the 5th century BCE, but the Sui dynasty completed the through route in the 7th century CE with massive corvee labor and a heavy death toll. From Hangzhou to the Beijing region, the canal carried hundreds of thousands of tonnes of tax grain each year to the capital, plus salt, timber and trade goods, knitting the rice south to the political north. It declined in the 19th century under silting, rail competition and war damage, especially the Taiping era. Restored sections remain busy with bulk barges, and UNESCO listed the canal in 2014. It is the longest artificial waterway on earth.