The Study On Relationship Between The Tongji Ditch Of Sui Tang Canal And Coastal Settlements

Sui and Tang Grand Canal is the first canal throughout north and south of our country, it is an important water channel of contact different regions of China during the Long period of history. The Canal played an active role in promoting the National unity and economic development. As the important part of the Sui and Tang Grand Canal, Tong Ji canal connected Luoyang which is the Empire’s political center in Luoyang. At the southern is Jiang Nan Town which is the economic center. So it is true economy and traffic lifeline in the Tang Song period.Through analyzing the process of formation and development of Tongji ditch and coastal settlements, according to the form initial motivations of settlements, the paper divided the coastal settlements of Tongji canal into the following four types: traffic intersection type、 wharf intersection type、granary guard type and river generate type. The division of these types is helpful to further analyze the spatial relationships of Tong ji canal and coastal settlements.From the view of human settlements environment changing along the canal, based on the historical changes of coastal settlements of Tong ji canal researching, we find that the coastal settlement distributions have the following three characteristics: dense population, agriculture developed; structural integrity, function is clear; through flourish abandoned decline, significant change.Based on the analysis of coastal settlement types and distribution characteristics of the Tongji ditch, we summarized the Tongji ditch and coastal settlements spatial relationship with three features:because of its large sediment, flood frequency, Tong ji canal and coastal settlements formed a "close also sparsely" special relationship; on ground characteristics, Most of Tong ji canal "round the town", rarely forming cross river town; with the migration of capital, its coastal settlements also flourished or faded, Tong ji canal and coastal settlements spatial relationship have "following the Royal Park" characteristics.Although having a glorious past, Tongji canal situation is worrying, now it is the critical period when the Grande Canal is applying for the world heritage, Tongji canal and coastal settlements are important part of Canal. Based on the researching of spatial relationship of Tong ji canal and coastal settlements, we hope that this paper is useful for protecting and applying for the world heritage.