CHARM OF THE GRAND CANAL

Text by Wang Ming Translated by Hu Nan Photos by Wang Yuanchang & CFP

CHARM OF THE GRAND CANAL

Text by Wang Ming Translated by Hu Nan Photos by Wang Yuanchang & CFP

In 2014, the Grand Canal, the longest artifi cial waterway in the world, was inscribed on the World Heritage List. It consists of three sections of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal, the Grand Canal in the Sui and Tang Dynasties and the Hangzhou-Ningbo Canal. Starting at Beijing, it passes through Tianjin and the provinces of Hebei, Henan, Anhui, Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the city of Ningbo, linking fi ve major river basins of the Haihe River, Yellow River, Huaihe River, Yangtze River and Qiantang River. It has formed an all-encompassing network used for transportation, commodity fl ow and culture exchange, which ensured the country’s economic prosperity and stability.

The Hangzhou canal.杭州運河夕照。汪建偉 攝

運河風韻

2014年，跨8個省（市），由京杭大運河、隋唐大運河和浙東運河三部分組成的中國大運河，被列入世界文化遺產名錄。它自北向南貫通海河、黃河、淮河、長江和錢塘江五大水系，從而形成一個南北東西全方位的水陸交通網、商品流通網和文化匯通網。

Boatnik in the canal.運河水上人家。

Shu Yi, the Honorary President of the Panel for the Grand Canal affi liated with the Chinese Society of Cultural Relics, indicated that if the Great Wall is thought to be the backbone of China, the Grand Canal will feature the resemblance of an artery. Moreover, the Grand Canal is still in use as a major means of internal communication and continuously producing profound benefi ts to the country.

The Grand Canal has contributed to the development and prosperity of the cities along the canal. Acting as a key component for commodity gathering and distribution in cities alongside the waterway, Tianjin, Jining, Huai'an, Yangzhou, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Ningbo and other cities have witnessed how the Chinese endured changes and pursued progress, as well as how different cultures along the canal integrated with each other. The history of the Grand Canal is also a history of fusion in this region.

ln the late Spring and Autumn period, Fuchai, King of the State of Wu, ordered a canal be constructed for trading purposes, as well as a means to ship supplies. This canal became known as the Han Gou (邗溝, "Han Conduit"). Work began in 486 BC, from south of Yangzhou to north of Huai'an in Jiangsu, and within three years the Han Gou had connected the Yangtze with the Huai River by means of existing waterways, lakes, and marshes.

lt is known as one of the oldest sections of the Grand Canal in its current formation.

The canal made numerous contributions to the diversity, integration and prosperity of Chinese culture, as it has allowed Zhongyuan Culture to spread to the north and south, while the nomadic cultures from the northern grasslands and the Jiangnan Culture from the southern coastal areas were able to diffuse to the central parts of China. This has allowed for remarkable similarities between these many different cultures.

For instance, a New Year picture is a form of Chinese coloured wood block print, used for decoration during the Chinese New Year holiday. Yangliuqing is one special style from Tianjin. lt is believed that Yangliuqing is partly infl uenced by Suzhou-style pictures. Despite their distance, these are two famous styles used for these traditional New Year pictures.

Obviously, the canal was tightly linked with the ancient Silk Road. The Grand Canal in the Sui and Tang Dynasties and the ancient Silk Road both depart in Louyang, a pivotal city that was very infl uential during the Sui and Tang periods, while the Zhejiang-Ningbo Canal conjuncts the Maritime Silk Road in Ningbo, a coastal city in Zhejiang Province. Even in the Kangxi and Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, emperors invited delegations from the Netherlands and UK to travel to the capital through the canal, as a part of the diplomatic protocol.

Over the past 2000 years, the section from Jining of Shandong province to Ningbo has remained navigable, shipping grain, silk, tea and other commodities. lt includes abundant historical sites and tourism destinations such as ancient kilns, dwellings, streets, bridges, temples, towers, lanes and wharves. Now alongside the canal are bustling areas, and people enjoy the richness and ease that comes with life on the water.

The color of the night in Shaoxing.古城紹興夜色。

The site of the Water Transport Department(Ming Dynasty).位于淮安城中心、歷史上主管全國漕運的唯一機構總督漕運部院舊址即景。

The sunset of the Tianjin Bay.天津灣夕照。

中國文物學會大運河專業委員會名譽會長舒乙曾說：“如果說長城是骨骼，是脊梁，大運河就是血脈。而且大運河最了不起的地方在于，它現在一直在使用，而且有非常大的經濟效益。”

中國大運河的大貫通和迅速開發，帶動了沿岸城市的興盛與繁榮。在天津、濟寧、淮安、揚州、蘇州、杭州、寧波等城市，成為重要商品集散地的同時，更串聯起中華民族上下求索、飽經滄桑的歷史脈絡和京津、齊魯、淮揚、吳越等區域文化相融合的文化流變。歷史變遷，歲月流轉，透過一扇扇城市窗口，尋著自北向南的水可索到中國大運河與沿線城市相互羈絆的前世今生。

“吳城邗，溝通江淮。”《春秋左氏傳》中，關于公元前486年吳王夫差開鑿運河的事，只寫了這7個字。因途經邗城，故得名“邗溝”。自此，這條起于揚州止自淮安、溝通了長江和淮河兩大河流的運河，成為世界上第一條有確切紀年的大型運河，亦是中國大運河的前身及開端。

大運河把中原文化帶到了南北方，又把北方草原游牧文化與南方魚米桑茶水鄉文化傳到中原，實現了中華文化的多元、互補與共繁，形成諸多相同或相近的地理、文化、建筑和宗教等特征。如聞名中外的天津楊柳青年畫則是吸收了蘇州桃花年畫的藝術風格，形成了年畫經典“南桃北柳”。

大運河仿佛為絲綢之路接上了手腳，隋唐運河與陸路絲綢之路起點在古都洛陽重合。而浙東運河則通過寧波與海上絲綢之路連通，“南則閩廣，東則日本，北則高句麗，商舶往來，物化豐衍”，從而使寧波實現了在“海上絲綢之路”中的獨特地位。清朝康熙、乾隆年間，荷蘭、英國等國的使團來中國時，中國當時的皇帝都會請他們沿大運河一路北上到達京城，作為重要的禮節之一。

悠悠兩千余載，濟寧以南的京杭大運河段及延伸入海段的浙東運河，時至今日一刻都未曾停息，四通八達，運輸繁忙，兩岸稻香，無限風光。古鎮、古街、古橋、古寺、古纖道等歷史遺存和景觀眾多，特色最為顯著的一段。至今運河兩岸的市井仍舊繁華熱鬧，運河水上人家依舊過著臨水而居的愜意生活。