Beijing’s Great Canal

The editorial committee of Reading the Grand Canal

The editorial committee of Reading the Grand Canal includes more than 20 writers and scholars such as Jiang Shili， Wang Jianzhao， and Wang Xiaorou.

Reading the Grand Canal

Editted by the Editorial Committee of Reading the Grand Canal

China Financial and Economic Publishing House （CFEPH）

September 2021

48.00 （CNY）

Reading the Grand Canal is a collection of essays jointly created by more than 20 writers and scholars living in cities along the Grand Canal. It describes the precious heritage left by our ancestors， the flowing culture， and the endless Grand Canal.

I once asked scholar Zhang Weidong： The ancient people attached great importance to returning to their hometown when they were old， and it was not easy to live in the capital Beijing where prices were high， so why did they still stay here？ Master Weidong said： One needed to save money for many years to return to their hometown. If they stayed in Beijing， after a few generations， they would return home carrying dozens of coffins of their forefathers headed back by the canal. I then realized that only officials who had resigned could afford to return to their hometowns. Ordinary merchants， artisans， or artists， drifted along the canal and settled down when they ran out of money. For them， the home was where their heart found peace. The crafts from the capital， along with the various operas， spread along the canals.

When I visited the canals around Beijing， I realized that Beijing embodied not aesthetics but political economy. “The prosperous merchants of Sichuan， Shaanxi， Wu， and Chu all arrived at the Capital by boat，” this was Li Waisun’s fictional writing in The Great Capital Fu. The truth was that Beijing was a consumer city， and its own production could not supply its residents who could not easily live there， so it had to rely on the canal， the blood vessel， to deliver nutrients from other places around the country. Beijing was the recipient of blood.

The Grand Canal changed the spatial configuration of China’s geography and Beijing’s relationship with other cities.

During the time of Kublai Khan， the first Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty， the canal was constructed from Huai’an to Tongzhou. The name “Tongzhou” was taken from the meaning of “the canal’s transportation.” The expansion of the canal allowed ships to travel from Hangzhou to Suqian， Huai’an， and across Weishan Lake straight to Beijing， instead of going northwest， to Luoyang and then heading north， which shortened the journey by 1，800 li （1 li=0.5 km）. Guo Shoujing constructed the canal from Tongzhou to Jishuitan in Beijing and named it the “Tonghui River.” There is still a shrine and statue of him at Jishuitan to commemorate him. Since then， the grain and rice of Dayuan were continuously transported from Jiangnan to Beijing via the canal， and “there were more oars than fish in the East China Sea and more masts than bamboo shoots in the South Mountain” around Jishuitan.

During the Qing Dynasty， China experienced a significant change not seen in a thousand years： the population swelled from 100 million to 400 million， and severe inflation broke out. In Beijing， due to the housing shortage， the large hutongs from the Yuan and Ming dynasties were extended in all directions to form small hutongs. Positions in the imperial examinations， government officials， and the Eight Banners officials along the canals were all in short supply. The Eight Banners positions were often filled by one person in the family， and others who could not fill the vacancies would just be idling. The roads in hutongs were mostly dirt roads， and therefore people being “covered with dirt on sunny days and mud on rainy days” was the most common sight. At this time， there were only three stone-made “imperial roads” leading to faraway places： from Xizhimen to Xishan， from Guang’anmen to Lugou Bridge， and from Chaoyangmen to Tongzhou. The road from Chaoyangmen to Tongzhou was the “auxiliary road” of the Grand Canal in Beijing— it was built twice during the Yongzheng and Qianlong periods， and stone monuments were erected in Baliqiao in Tongzhou and Sanjianfang Village in Chaoyang District to document it.

The Ran Deng Sarira （Burning Lamp Buddhist Relic） Pagoda in Xihaizi Park in Tongzhou is reflected on the Grand Canal. The moment you saw the pagoda， you knew you had arrived in Tongzhou. I passed by the pagoda and proceeded to the east to visit the canal， and inadvertently， I saw a monument of cultural relics protection written with “Beijing section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal” at a bend in the river. The two banks were mostly barren， winding into wilderness on the yellow land. The weather was clear and cloudless， with the sky reflected in the water. As I stood by the canal， I saw only yellow and blue colors in front of me. The canal was sometimes wide and sometimes narrow， sometimes orderly and sometimes chaotic. Being calm and inconspicuous， it did not show any waves， like a water puddle. I felt that I saw not the canal but the old bridge， the ancient city， the sluices， the riverbed and the flowing water. It was like seeing only a batch of spare parts but not the whole factory assembly line， or in other words， seeing only two fossilized ape teeth but not the daily life of primitive people.

Later， the Grand Canal Cultural Square and Park were built in Tongzhou， and I couldn’t resist revisiting it. When I first walked in， the view was just like an ordinary park. But when I reached deeper， I saw a deep summer green， a wide and calm river， and water birds flying over the canal. I had once lamented not being able to witness the classical way of life on the canal and was anxious about the lost prosperity along the shoreline. But to think of it in another way， once there used to be a vast wilderness， and after thousands of years， it had once again returned to wilderness.

I thought， the Grand Canal has not decayed， but returned to its origin.