Rinnai control gates, Kanan Irrigation System

Chianan Irrigation (), also known as the Kanan Irrigation System, was built to support agricultural production in the Chianan Plain of

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northe ...

. The name "chia-nan" was derived from two

place name Place may refer to: Geography * Place (United States Census Bureau), defined as any concentration of population ** Census-designated place, a populated area lacking its own municipal government * "Place", a type of street or road name ** Oft ...

s among its surrounding area called

Chiayi Chiayi (, Taigi POJ: ''Ka-gī''; ), officially known as Chiayi City, is a city located in the plains of southwestern Taiwan. Formerly called ''Kagee'' during the late Qing dynasty and ''Kagi'' during the Japanese era (), its historical nam ...

and

Tainan Tainan (), officially Tainan City, is a special municipality in southern Taiwan facing the Taiwan Strait on its western coast. Tainan is the oldest city on the island and also commonly known as the "Capital City" for its over 200 years of hi ...

. Although it includes some other facilities, such as the

Wusanto Reservoir Wushantou Reservoir (), sometimes spelled Wushanto or Wusanto, is a reservoir and scenic area located in Lioujia District and Guantian District of Tainan, Taiwan. It is also referred to as Coral Lake () due to its zigzagging shoreline. The reserv ...

, the term "Chianan Canal", in a narrow sense, would only mean the

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface fl ...

s of this system. The main designer of the Chianan Canal is

Yoichi Hatta was a Japanese engineer, known for his contributions in hydraulic engineering in the Japanese-ruled Taiwan. Hatta was born in Kanazawa, Ishikawa. After graduating from Tokyo Imperial University in 1910, he joined the Seat of Governor-General ...

, a civil engineer of the Japanese government. Its main streams pass through today's Tainan, Chiayi and

Yunlin Yunlin County (Mandarin pinyin: ''Yúnlín Xiàn''; Taigi POJ: ''Hûn-lîm-koān''; Hakka PFS: ''Yùn-lìm-yen'') is a county in western Taiwan. Yunlin County borders the Taiwan Strait to the west, Nantou County to the east, Changhua County to ...

, formerly parts of

Tainan Prefecture was one of the administrative divisions of Taiwan during the Japanese rule. The prefecture consisted of modern-day Tainan City, Chiayi City, Chiayi County and Yunlin County. Population Administrative divisions Cities and districts In 194 ...

. The architectural work of canal was launched in 1920 and completed in 1930, during Japanese rule. The canal improved the plantable area for

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly '' Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and ''Porteresia'', both wild and domestica ...

from 5000 to 150,000

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is ...

s, and made the rice crops in its irrigated area able to be harvested three times annually.

References

Geography of Taiwan History of Taiwan Economy of Taiwan Agriculture in Taiwan Hydraulic engineering Tainan Chiayi County Yunlin County {{agri-stub

See also

References