The Red Flag Canal () is an

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been dev ...

canal located northwest of

Anyang Anyang (; ) is a prefecture-level city in Henan province, China. The northernmost city in Henan, Anyang borders Puyang to the east, Hebi and Xinxiang to the south, and the provinces of Shanxi and Hebei to its west and north respectively. It had ...

in the northern extremity of

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

, China.

Geographic location

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 ...

begins close to the border of

and

Shanxi Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-lev ...

. It diverts water from the

Zhang River The Zhang River is a tributary of the Wei River in China. The river commences at the confluence of the rivers Qingzhang (or Clear Zhang, 清漳河) and Zhuozhang (or Turbid Zhang, 浊漳河), where between She county of Hebei and Linzhou of ...

(). The Zhang River flows from Shanxi and becomes the border between Hebei and Henan near to

Handan Handan is a prefecture-level city located in the southwest of Hebei province, China. The southernmost prefecture-level city of the province, it borders Xingtai on the north, and the provinces of Shanxi on the west, Henan on the south and Shan ...

. The dam is located near the corner of the three provinces. The canal winds around the side of a cliff, through 42 tunnels and along the side of the

Taihang Mountains The Taihang Mountains () are a Chinese mountain range running down the eastern edge of the Loess Plateau in Shanxi, Henan and Hebei provinces. The range extends over from north to south and has an average elevation of . The principal peak is ...

. The main canal is long with many branches to distribute the water.

History

The canal was initiated during the Great Leap Forward and was built in the 1960s, with the main channel being completed in 1965. It was dug entirely by hand labour. The main canal is 71 kilometers long. Including the distribution branches, the irrigation system is claimed to have a total length of . It irrigates the fields of the Linzhou district. The Red Flag Canal was considered to be a great achievement of the Chinese workers in the 1960s and was the subject of several

movies A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

. The Red Flag Canal was featured in

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loa ...

both internal and external to China, as an exemplar of what workers could achieve and local mass initiative. Linzhou (then called Linxian) and the Red Flag Canal were visited by the Italian film director

Michelangelo Antonioni Michelangelo Antonioni (, ; 29 September 1912 – 30 July 2007) was an Italian filmmaker. He is best known for directing his "trilogy on modernity and its discontents"—'' L'Avventura'' (1960), '' La Notte'' (1961), and '' L'Eclisse'' (1 ...

when he made his documentary film '' Chung Kuo, Cina'' about China during the Cultural Revolution in 1972.Yang Kuei.

References

{{Coord, 36, 21, 12, N, 113, 45, 34, E, region:CN-14/CN-41/CN-42_type:waterbody_source:dewiki, display=title Buildings and structures in Henan Canals in China Irrigation in China Irrigation canals Canals opened in 1965 Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Henan

Geographic location

History

See also

References