Study On The Grand Canal In The Ming Dynasty

The Great Canal stands for the famous inland transport systems, mainly suggests acomprehensive system to transport official and military grain and wheat to capital cities,including cutting canals, ship construction and levying taxes on grain for governmental andmilitary usage, as well as ocean transport in broad sense. The Great Canal initiated in Qin andHan dynasty and boomed in Tang and Song dynasty while Ming dynasty constitutes afrequently transformed era in the Great Canal management systems, which makes great sensein research. From the beginning of Ming dynasty, the emperor introduced the policy whichinherited from Yuan dynasty that canal and ocean transport could accommodate with eachother. However the ocean and land transport was abolished in YongLe13th and canaltransport took the prominence. As comes to the late Ming dynasty, the Great Canal hasgradually manifested severe disadvantages at the time when ocean transport remarkablytranscends it in many aspects, but debates aiming at reclaim ocean transport has eventuallycame to an end in WanLi6th.Hence,Ming dynasty concluded in the choice of the Great Canalrather than ocean transport.The first chapter concluded the current research and background in academic circles andinnovative points of this article. The second chapter introduces the economical mechanismprocess. The3rd chapter makes a comparison between the Great Canal and ocean transport ontheir economical and social environment, illustrates the advantages and technical possibilitiesof ocean transport to provide data support for further analysis. On the basis of this chapter, thenext chapter analyzes the decision-making process of central and local governments in detailso as to discuss the key point—the Governor-General of the Great Canal, at the same time,game theory has been introduced to analyze the reason and influence about the formulation ofthe segmentation of trap and block. The5th chapter further analyzes medium and smallinterest groups along the Great Canal and their influence on official decisions, so as to viewthe event in perspective.The article comprehensively introduces the research method of literature and comparison,trying to analyze the Great Canal system in economic interest view and reveal the long-suppressed political and economical root. The conclusion manifests that the resistancefrom vested interest groups blocked ocean transport from carrying on. The author hopes thisarticle could make up the deficiency in research and enlighten current reforms in China.