The Lingqu () is a canal in Xing'an County, near Guilin, in the northwestern corner of

Guangxi Guangxi (; ; alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam ...

, China. It connects the Xiang River (which flows north into the

Yangtze The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains (Tibetan Plateau) and flows ...

) with the

Li River The Li River or Li Jiang () is the name for the upper reaches of the Gui River in northwestern Guangxi, China. It is part of the Xijiang River system in the Pearl River Basin. The river flows from Xing'an County to Pingle County, where the ka ...

(which flows south into the

Gui River The Gui River (Chinese: 桂江) is a river in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China, and a tributary of the Xi Jiang. It is formed in Pingle by the confluence of the Li River and Lipu River and flows southeast, merging with the Xun Jiang ...

and Xijiang), and thus is part of a historical waterway between the Yangtze and the Pearl River Delta. It was the first canal in the world to connect two river valleys and enabled boats to travel from

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

History

In 214 BC,

Qin Shi Huang Qin Shi Huang (, ; 259–210 BC) was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of a unified China. Rather than maintain the title of " king" ( ''wáng'') borne by the previous Shang and Zhou rulers, he ruled as the First Empero ...

, the First Emperor of the

Qin dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ; zh, c=秦朝, p=Qín cháo, w=), or Ch'in dynasty in Wade–Giles romanization ( zh, c=, p=, w=Ch'in ch'ao), was the first dynasty of Imperial China. Named for its heartland in Qin state (modern Gansu and Shaanxi), ...

(221–206 BC), ordered the construction of a canal connecting the Xiang and the Li rivers, in order to attack the Baiyue tribes in the south. The architect who designed the canal was Shi Lu (). It is the oldest

contour canal A contour canal is an artificially-dug navigable canal which closely follows the contour line of the land it traverses in order to avoid costly engineering works such as boring a tunnel through higher ground, building an embankment over lower ground ...

in the world, receiving its water from the Xiang. Its length reaches 36.4 km and it was fitted with thirty-seven flash locks by 825 AD and there is a clear description of pound locks in the twelfth century, which were probably installed in the tenth or eleventh century. Its design also served water conservation by diverting up to a third of the flow of the Xiang to the Li. The canal has been placed on the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...

World Heritage Sites tentative list.

References

Citations

Bibliography

*Day, Lance and McNeil, Ian . (1996). ''Biographical Dictionary of the History of Technology''. New York: Routledge. . Canals in China Chinese inventions Geography of Guilin Xing'an County Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Guangxi Qin (state) Transport in Guangxi Qin dynasty architecture {{China-hist-stub

History

See also

References

Citations

Bibliography