Liaocheng City: A Pearl on Clear Rivers

In the city of Dezhou，Shandong Province， theYellow River and otherrivers run from east towest， while the Grand Canal runsnorth-south. Throughout history，the rivers have nourished theland， people， customs， and cultureof Dezhou while floating the cityinto the future

The Yellow River intersectsthe Beijing-Hangzhou GrandCanal only once in Liaocheng， a city famous for its abundantwater resources in easternChina’s Shandong Province.

A total of 23 rivers runthrough the city， each with adrainage area of more than 30square kilometers. Liaocheng isalso home to Dongchang Lake，a large urban water body， whichis rare north of the YangtzeRiver. That is where DongchangAncient Town， a uniquelandscape known for “water inthe town， town in the water，”can be found. It has also beencelebrated as the “Venice ofNorthern China.”

The Liaocheng section of theGrand Canal is 97.5 kilometerslong. After emerging as a graintransportation hub， Liaochenggradually transformed into acommercial city with sustainedprosperity for more than 400years.

Linqing， a county-levelcity in the north of Liaochengand under its administration， isanother important commercialtown that prospered becauseof the canal. In the earlyMing Dynasty （1368-1644），the imperial court built threemajor national warehouses inLinqing. Later， with the rise ofwater transportation for grains，many towns along the banksof the Grand Canal becamedistribution centers for importantcommodities. To protect theemerging commercial towns， theimperial court expanded the cityof Linqing. It is also called theJade Belt City because it extendsalong the canal and wraps thecommercial and residential areason both sides in the shape of abelt.

Liaocheng was deeplyinfluenced by Confucianism， andlocal people consider filial pietyand education highly important.The commercial prosperitybrought by the canal alsoprovided favorable conditions forcultural prosperity.

At the center of DongchangAncient Town， Guangyue Toweris a major cultural heritage site.During the Ming and Qing （1644-1911） dynasties， many emperors，generals， ministers， and scholarsclimbed up the building， leanedon the railings， chanted to themoon， and composed poems. Atrend of advocating literature andeducation emerged in those days.

During the Qing Dynasty，many famous academies suchas Yangping and Qiwen weresuccessively established inLiaocheng. Book engraving andprinting industries as well as bookcollection activities also boomed.Haiyuan Pavilion in DongchangAncient Town was one of fourmajor private libraries at thattime.

Many businessmen migrated toLiaocheng from other provinces，of which those from Shanxiand Shaanxi were the mostwell-known， and their guild hallwas also the most magnificent.Many of the 160-plus buildingsof the guild hall featureexquisite carvings and paintingsconsidered masterpieces ofChinese architectural art. Thestructures also witnessed thedevelopment and prosperity ofLiaocheng across history.

The guild hall tends to besated with cultural elementsof General Guan Yu， reveredas Guandi （Lord Guan） forhis loyalty and bravery， so itis also called Guandi Temple.The loyalty， integrity， and socialresponsibility of the Shanxiand Shaanxi merchants are alsointegrated with the culture ofLiaocheng.

Between the Liaochengsection of the Grand Canal andDongchang Lake， a boat-likebuilding stands magnificently.It is the Liaocheng ChinaCanal Culture Museum. After itofficially opened to the publicin May 2009， the museumgradually became one of the mostinfluential cultural calling cardsof the city and an importanttestament to the effectivenessof efforts to protect the GrandCanal resources.

In the new era， Liaochengpeople continue to draw wisdomand development momentumfrom the Grand Canal，embarking on a path of integrateddevelopment of culture andtourism with local characteristics.The maps show that almost allof Liaocheng’s most profoundand influential historical sitesare distributed along the GrandCanal.

In recent years， the city haspromoted restoration of culturalrelics and protection of historicalsites along the Grand Canal whilealso cultivating new scenic spotssuch as Dongchang Lake andWanyuan Garden.

Thanks in large part to theGrand Canal， Liaocheng’scultural tourism industrycontinues expanding.Numerous tourist attractionsintegrating culture andsightseeing such as the grandtheater in Jiangbei Water Townhave been launched to propela shift in the city’s culturaltourism away from single-spotsightseeing towards a city-widetourism development pattern.Liaocheng and the Grand Canalare still achieving integrateddevelopment.