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In 1126 the Song were forced to abandon the north of China, pushed out by barbarians who had partially adopted Chinese culture (the Jurchen, or Jin). During their retreat the Song destroy the south-bank dike of the Yellow River in the Kaifeng region, and this causes considerable damage to the Tongji canal and destabilizes the […]

The chamber lock, with two gates, is invented in the Song Dynasty at the end of the 10th century. In 983, a civil servant named Chiao Wei-Yo is in charge of transport in the Huai region. At this time barges were transferred from the canal to the Huai, at the northern extremity of the Shangyang […]

The Grand Canal of the Sui, the Tang, and the Song (6th to 11th century) In 581 AD, Yang Jian founded the Sui Dynasty at Chang’an. He reunifies China in 589, and in 604 the country sees its new master enthroned as emperor. An imperial necessi­ty appears immediately: to establish a safe communication route between […]

The first imperial era was of great importance to the blossoming of China thanks to its cultural unity and construction of hydraulic infrastructure. Before moving on, we need to note the appearance of several other important innovations. One innovation is the axial ship rudder (see Figure 8.10). We know that it appeared during this period […]

Reconstruction efforts mark the beginning of the period of the “latter” Han. The Bian canal had greatly suffered from inundations, and the repair works were directed by an engineer called Wang Ching. In 70 AD the Emperor Mingdi inspects this work: “Since the dike ruptures at the outlet of the Bian canal, more than sixty […]

The Yellow River dikes are continually maintained and raised. In the 2nd century BC, they had already attained a height of some ten meters. The regions they protect along the lower course of the river had become among the most populated of all China, as we have seen earlier. A first dike rupture occurred in […]

Other canals are constructed in the north in 113 BC. The purpose was to try to bring the region of the grand loop of the Yellow River into cultivation, and thus to settle this area that had served as an ideal corridor for the invasions of the Xiongnu barbarians.[412] These irrigation canals are built on […]

Development of the Wei basin is actively pursued under the early Han and, particularly under the long reign of the grand Emperor Wudi (141 to 87 BC). This is the region of the capital Chang’an (Figure 8.8). Major extensions to the Zhengguo canal are made in 111 BC, then again in 95 BC. The marshy […]

The First Emperor left the legacy of an energetic, but bloody, monarchy to Chinese his­torians. And this is no doubt why the Qin Dynasty could not survive it. It is replaced by the long Han Dynasty, dominating China for more than four centuries from 206 BC to 220 AD. The Empire continues to encompass the […]

The eulogy of Shi Huangdi (formerly Zheng) is engraved on the gates of the city of Jishi. It recognizes not only his destiny as a conquerer, but also his contributions to hydraulic infrastructure: “He took down the inner and outer fortifications, “He opened the watercourses and erected dikes, “He leveled the dangerous gorges.”[405] His overall […]