Ming Qing Dynasties Water Transport And Northern Jiangsu Flood

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal as thenational important economic lifeblood was mainly responsible for the north of the tributerice. it led to the rise and prosperity of towns along the canal, promoted the communicationand development of economy and culture, and played an important role in promotingeconomic and social development to the area along the canal. In order to ensure thecurrency of the canal and the grain transportation to the north unblocked, Ming and Qingdynasties centered all on the governance of canal to ensure smooth water transport.Although the Grand Canal has bought a lot of positive effect, we have to look on it in twoaspects. Restricted by the terrain, the eastern plain water system in our country mostlyflows to the sea from west to east, but the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is a north-southriver, and this man-made river is bound to intercept the natural rivers from west to east. Inorder to remain unimpeded after going through so many natural rivers, the canal willinevitably cause the change of water system in the river intersection area, and will makethe part of the regional water system disorder, even cause floods. For example, the canalbed accretion forms the ground river, which affects the river discharge in the west regionand makes the ground water remove difficultly. If there is a torrential rain, it must formflood disaster. The article takes the Northern Jiangsu area which the canal passes throughas the research object, to explore the relationship between the protection of the watertransport in Ming and Qing dynasties and the flood in Northern Jiangsu area; takes thechange of the channel as the breakthrough point, to discuss how the change of channelaffects the water system, the resulting flood and flood management condition. The practicehas inseparable connection with the guiding ideology of the Ming and Qing dynasties–theprotection of the water transport. Early in the Ming dynasty, the government used YellowRiver to transport food in the line Xuzhou to Huaiyin. In order to guarantee the graintransportation, the special policies of water transport made the water system in northernJiangsu change, and made the flood area vary. In the late Ming dynasty, the government excavated the Jia Canal to keep water transport from going through the Yellow River. Andthe excavation of Zao and Zhong Canal in the early Qing dynasty thoroughly implementedthe separation of the Yellow River and the canal, and ensured the canal to go smoothly. Butat the same time, the regional water system was more disordered, causing serious regionalflood. In the region of the Hongze Lake, the Ming and Qing governments held the oldwater policy. Although it ensured the water transport at that time, yet the Yellow River isstronger than the Huaihe River, whenever we face the inflation of the Yellow river and theHuaihe River at the same time, the Yellow River will flow backward to Hongze Lake,which made the silt deposit in the estuary and the Hongze Lake. Then GaoYan becamehigher and higher, and the Hongze Lake became the famous "hanging lake", swallowing alot of land, causing floods almost every year in the Hongze Lake region. All in all, thisarticle tries to restore the natural shape of canal in Northern Jiangsu, the regional drainageand flood in the Ming and Qing dynasties, which corrects people’s error understanding ofthe canal’s historical role. From the unique research perspective-the protection of the watertransport, the topic explores the relationship between the protection of the water transportand the flood in Northern Jiangsu and how they affect each other. It helps people form anew point of view to examine the influence of the Grand Canal on the regional ecologicalenvironment and promotes the in-depth study of the canal and the history of its area.