The Dredging And Realignment Of The Grand Canal And Its Water Transport In The Yuan Dynasty

The Grand Canal of China is a world-famous water conservancy project with a long history. The rudiment of the present canal in modern sense took shape in the Yuan Dynasty (1206-1368). The Yuan Government, in order to transport by water the grain and property from the south of the River (a region in the lower Changjiang valley) to the capital Dadu (now Beijing). Conducted a series of dredging and realignment project on the canal. They not only excavated Jizhou River, Huitong River, making straight the former canal and reducing a water way of 900 km, but also dredged up Tonghui River to bring about the water transport between. Torgzhou and Dadu. Besides, they also built water gates to guide water and sent officials to manage them, making sure that the Grand Canal run well.Up until now studies on the Grand Canal of the Yuan Dynasty have achieved some achievements, however, systematic studies upon the whole canal were scarce.In this text, the author will make a synthetical study of some historical materials, on the basis of absorbing former's achievements, expecting to present a systematic description upon the dredging and realignment of the Grand Canal and its water transport. Apart from that, the author will also present his viewpoints on the issues of Huitong River and Tonghui River in some chapters.The text compries 5 parts: I .The historical background f the dredging and realignment of the Grand Canal. II .The digging of the Grand Canal. III. The dredging and realignment of the Grand Canal.IV.The management and water transport of the Grand Canal. V .The influence and significence of the dredging and water transport of the Grand Canal.