The Lingqu () is a canal in
Xing'an County
Xing'an County is a county (China), county in the northeast of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China. It is administered as part of the prefecture-level city of Guilin. Its area is , with a population of 370000. The postal code is 541300.
Admi ...
, near
Guilin
Guilin (Standard Zhuang: ''Gveilinz''), postal map romanization, formerly romanization of Chinese, romanized as Kweilin, is a prefecture-level city in the northeast of China's Guangxi, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. It is situated on the we ...
, in the northwestern corner of
Guangxi
Guangxi,; officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam (Hà Giang Province, Hà Giang, Cao Bằn ...
, China.
It connects the
Xiang River
The Xiang River is the chief river of the Lake Dongting drainage system of the middle Yangtze, the largest river in Hunan Province, China. It is the second-largest tributary (after the Min River) in terms of surface runoff, the fifth-largest ...
(which flows north into the
Yangtze
The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ) is the longest river in Eurasia and the third-longest in the world. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains of the Tibetan Plateau and flows including Dam Qu River the longest source of the Yangtze, i ...
) with the
Li River (which flows south into the
Gui River and
Xijiang, the latter is one of major tributaries of
Pearl River), and thus is part of a historical waterway between the Yangtze and the
Pearl River Delta
The Pearl River Delta Metropolitan Region is the low-lying area surrounding the Pearl River estuary, where the Pearl River flows into the South China Sea. Referred to as the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area in official documents, ...
. It was the first canal in the world to connect two river valleys and enabled boats to travel overland between Northern China and the
Pearl River Delta
The Pearl River Delta Metropolitan Region is the low-lying area surrounding the Pearl River estuary, where the Pearl River flows into the South China Sea. Referred to as the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area in official documents, ...
.
It is also one of the most well-preserved such projects in the world.
The canal is long.
History
In 214 BC,
Qin Shi Huang
Qin Shi Huang (, ; February 25912 July 210 BC), born Ying Zheng () or Zhao Zheng (), was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of China. He is widely regarded as the first ever supreme leader of a unitary state, unitary d ...
, the First Emperor of the
Qin dynasty
The Qin dynasty ( ) was the first Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China. It is named for its progenitor state of Qin, a fief of the confederal Zhou dynasty (256 BC). Beginning in 230 BC, the Qin under King Ying Zheng enga ...
(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 in the world,
receiving its water from the Xiang. It was fitted with thirty-seven
flash locks by 825 AD. There is a clear description of pound locks in the twelfth century, which were probably installed one or two centuries before.
[
] The canal also aided
water conservation
Water conservation aims to sustainably manage the natural resource of fresh water, protect the hydrosphere, and meet current and future human demand. Water conservation makes it possible to avoid water scarcity. It covers all the policies, strateg ...
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 (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
World Heritage Sites
World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritag ...
tentative list.
See also
*
History of canals in China
*
Grand Canal of China
*
Dujiangyan
*
Zhengguo Canal
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