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Development history of ancient water conservancy in China
Ancient water conservancy

The Development of Water Conservancy in China from Pre-Qin to Qing Dynasty. It mainly includes three aspects: first, river regulation and flood control, with emphasis on the lower reaches of the Yellow River; Second, farmland water conservancy, a large number of irrigation and drainage projects have appeared, and the construction focus has gradually shifted from the Yellow River basin to the Huaihe River, Yangtze River and Pearl River basins with the shift of the national agricultural economic center of gravity; The third is water transport, among which the water transport network connecting Haihe River, Yellow River, Huaihe River, Yangtze River and Pearl River is the most important. In addition, there are many achievements in water resources utilization and urban water conservancy.

Pre-Qin era

Legend has it that when Yao and Shun flooded, Yu led his people to divert their roads, blocked lakes and rivers, and dug ditches and streams, which spread all over the four major river basins of Jiang, Ji, He and Huai, and finally subsided the flood. This is actually the epitome of the long-term water control of hundreds of millions of people in ancient China. Irrigation of farmland with ditches and discharge of farmland water into rivers and lakes to facilitate farming are important aspects of Dayu's water control. The construction of farmland ditches in Shang and Zhou Dynasties is a continuation of this work. During this period, the focus of farmland water conservancy in the Yellow River Basin was flood control and drainage, and small-scale farmland irrigation also appeared.

the Spring and Autumn Period

The Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period are the period of initial development of water conservancy in China. The earliest recorded irrigation project was when Chu Zhuangwang was in power. Sun Shuai first irrigated the wasteland of buildings in his hometown (now Shihe, a tributary of Huaihe River), and then built the Tang Yan project in Shouxian County, Anhui Province. In 486 BC, Wu dug a canal connecting the Yangtze and Huaihe rivers, which was the earliest recorded artificial canal, but it was mainly used for military purposes.

In 360 BC, the State of Wei began to build bridges to lead the Yellow River water to the girder (now Kaifeng, Henan). In 340 BC, a canal ran eastward from the girder to the Huaihe River. During the Warring States Period, Wei, Zhao and Qi all built dikes and drained water along the Yellow River. When Wei was there, Ximen Bao built twelve canals of Zhangshui to irrigate Ye (now southwest of Linzhang, Hebei).

The most famous water conservancy is the state of Qin. Around 25 1 BC, Li Bing, the county magistrate, presided over the construction of Dujiangyan and irrigated the Chengdu Plain with Minjiang River water, which has been used for more than 2000 years. In 246 BC, together with Zheng Guo, a South Korean water conservancy engineer, Qin started to build the Zheng Guoqu, guided the water mirror to the east, dug more than 300 miles of canals and irrigated 40,000 hectares of land, which made Qin prosperous.

Qin and Han dynasties

Water conservancy is mainly based on the Yellow River Basin, which has made great progress. River regulation and flood control is still an important task. After Qin Shihuang unified China, the Yellow River levee was unified for the first time. Due to the increase of population, land reclamation and forest destruction, the Yellow River flood has become more and more serious. There were 12 and 13 large-scale floods in the Western Han Dynasty.

At that time, the river regulation was mainly to block the mouth, repair the embankment and divert water. During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Yellow River burst in Zhangzi (now southwest of Puyang, Henan Province) and changed its course for 23 years. It was not until Emperor Wu came to the scene that the blocking was successful. Since then, the Yellow River has been divided into two or more tributaries for a long time. At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, flooding diverted. In the 13th year of Yongping, the Emperor of the East Han Dynasty (AD 70), Wang Jing presided over the river regulation, built dikes 1000 miles, built branch canals and diverted them. Since then, the Yellow River has not changed its direction for more than 900 years.

Irrigation and water conservancy projects were generally built in the north of the Yangtze River in the Han Dynasty. In the middle of the Western Han Dynasty, Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and other places, especially the Guanzhong area, operated large-scale irrigation and water conservancy. In BC 1 1 1 year, the Qin Dynasty dug six small canals on the north bank, and in 95 BC, it built the Baigong Canal in its south, which is called the Zhengbai Canal together, and is the predecessor of the Jinghui Canal. Open a canal in Weinan.

He also led Luoshui to open the leading canal and used the well canal method. Some people think that Xinjiang Karez was developed by introducing the well and canal method from the Central Plains. Large irrigation areas have also appeared in Huaihe River, Wenshui River, Jishui River and Hutuo River basins. Later, there were 30 thousand hectares of irrigation area in the middle reaches of Hanshui River. When Wang Mang was in Yizhou County, he dug canals to divert water and cultivated more than 2,000 hectares of land.

Wei, Jin, southern and northern dynasties

During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, there was a war in the north, the south was relatively stable, a large number of people moved south, and the focus of farmland water conservancy construction shifted to Jianghuai area. Huaihe river basin was a region contested by the north and the south at that time, and water conservancy construction was mostly related to military reclamation. For example, Cao Wei cultivated land on the main tributaries of Huaihe River to build water conservancy projects, and more than 500 miles of canals were opened on both sides of Yinghe River.

However, due to excessive pond construction and poor engineering quality, there were many disadvantages in the Western Jin Dynasty, such as frequent floods and returning waterlogged land to alkali. From the lower reaches of the Yangtze River to the banks of the Qiantang River in the south, farmland water conservancy has developed greatly during this period, and many large ponds have appeared. Jianhu Lake was built in the Eastern Han Dynasty (now Shaoxing, Zhejiang), Lianhu Lake was built in the late Western Jin Dynasty (now Danyang, Jiangsu) and Chishan Lake was built in the Six Dynasties (now Jurong, Jiangsu).

Farmland water conservancy in the north is declining, but when the political situation is relatively stable, some old canals have been built and some new ones have been built. For example, Cao Wei built a tomb weir (in the west of Beijing today) to irrigate the fields with wet water (now Yongding River); During the Northern Wei Dynasty, the Ai Shan Canal (now Ningxia) was built, and 40,000 hectares of water was diverted from the Yellow River to irrigate fields. However, there are few records of repairing and preventing the Yellow River and disasters in this period. There are many man-made floods to fight with water. Cao Cao made a northern expedition to Wuhuan and dug a series of canals in the Haihe River basin.

Sui, Tang, Song and Yuan Dynasties

During the Sui, Tang, Song and Yuan Dynasties, irrigation and water conservancy flourished. With the shift of the national economic center of gravity to the south, the water conservancy in the north has experienced a process from revival to decline, while the water conservancy in the south has achieved sustained and great development.

During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, irrigation and water conservancy construction spread all over the Yellow River basin and northwest China. Almost all the old canals in the Western Han Dynasty have been restored, and many new canals have been built. More prominent are the yellow river diversion irrigation project in the meandering area where Fenhe River, Suhe River and Yellow River meet below Longmen, the canals in Ningxia Plain, and the irrigation areas in Haihe River Basin.

After the Anshi Rebellion in the Tang Dynasty, the water conservancy in the north declined sharply due to the separatist regime and the border war. Since the Song Dynasty, it was not easy to recover due to the partition of Liao and Xia, but in the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, many old canals were restored in the Yellow River Basin and Haihe River Basin. Especially in Xi 'ning period, irrigation canals were built to divert silt from the Yellow River, the Bianhe River and the Hutuo River and flood irrigation from mountain streams, covering an area of more than 50,000 hectares, which was the largest silt discharge in China history. Farmland water conservancy in Mongolia also developed in the Yuan Dynasty.

After the mid-Tang Dynasty, the focus of farmland water conservancy construction was in the south, with small and medium-sized water conservancy as the mainstay in the south. From Taihu Lake basin to the Five Dynasties, a pond weir system combining water control and farmland management was formed. There are many irrigation projects in Fujian and Zhejiang coastal areas to preserve salt and store light. Mulan Back in Putian County, Fujian Province, which was built in the Northern Song Dynasty, is such a large-scale water conservancy project that has been preserved to this day.

Large-scale seawalls and seawalls have been built from Jiangsu to Fujian, especially on both sides of Qiantang River. The seawall on the north bank of Qiantang River developed into a large stone pond with fish scales in Qing Dynasty and became a famous water conservancy building in China. Water conservancy in the Pearl River Delta was also developed in the Song Dynasty. The irrigation and water conservancy in this period was as far away as Huguang and Sichuan and Sichuan. Water conservancy in Yunnan and other border areas also developed in the Yuan Dynasty.

During this period, the Yellow River flooded, from less to more. In the Northern Song Dynasty, the river flooded once every two years on average, and the river swung from northern Shandong to Hebei and Tianjin. Every year, it costs a lot to build a dike to block the mouth. Great achievements have been made in river engineering technology and organization management, and there are many discussions on river management, but river disasters have not been eradicated. At the beginning of the Southern Song Dynasty, the Yellow River migrated from Henan to seize the Huai River and enter the sea. In the Jin and Yuan Dynasties, it was only partially repaired. In the 11th year of Yuan Dynasty (135 1), the Jialuzhi River was a famous project to block the mouth.

Emperor Yangdi Yang Di opened Jiqu and Yongji Canal, which made the north-south water transport smooth. This is a huge project in the history of water conservancy in the world. Guoyuan Shoujing plans to dig through Huitong River and Tonghui River, and open up the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, which will become the main artery of north-south traffic in the future.

Ming and Qing dynasties

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, irrigation and water conservancy mainly focused on restoring old facilities, with few large-scale new projects and many small and private projects. In the Qing Dynasty, well irrigation was developed in the north, and it was more common to use mountain spring water to grow rice in the south. Water network polder has developed to Dongting Lake area and the lower reaches of the Pearl River, becoming a unique form of water conservancy in China. In the Qing Dynasty, the water conservancy construction in Xinjiang, Ningxia and Inner Mongolia made great progress.

The management of the Yellow River in Ming Dynasty was mainly to ensure smooth canal transportation for a long time, which was a semi-laissez-faire state. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Pan Jixun presided over the management of the Yellow River, focusing on sediment, and proposed "harnessing water with dikes and attacking sand with water", overhauling dikes and repairing canals. During the Kangxi period of Qing Dynasty, Jin Fu and Huang Chen adopted Pan Shiyi's viewpoint. After Qianlong, river management became increasingly corrupt and became the nest of corrupt officials.

In the fifth year of Xianfeng (1855), the Yellow River diverted from Daqing River to the sea (now huanghe road), and the modern river disaster became more and more serious. Huaihe River, Yangtze River, Yongding River, etc. It is also often flooded, and a lot of restoration work has been done. The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal was rectified and dredged in the Ming Dynasty, but it was silted up or even abandoned in the late Qing Dynasty.

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Typical representative of ancient water conservancy development in China

Lingqu 1

Lingqu, located in Xing 'an, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is one of the oldest canals in the world and has the reputation of "the pearl of ancient water conservancy buildings in the world". Lingqu, called Qinqu, Zero Canal, Douhe Canal and Xing 'an Canal in ancient times, was opened to traffic in 2 14 BC, and it has been 22 17 years now, and it is still playing its role.

The main body of Lingqu project includes Hua levee, North-South Canal, Qin levee and steep gate. It is complete and exquisite, cleverly designed, connecting the three rivers and five mountains, connecting the north and south waterway transportation, and echoing the north and south of the Great Wall, which is called a wonder of the world.

2. Dujiangyan

Dujiangyan irrigation project in Chengdu Plain, after more than 2200 years, is a rare treasure in ancient water conservancy projects in China, with three major benefits: flood control, irrigation and shipping. Dujiangyan has been operated by Sichuan people for generations, and it is inexhaustible, making Dujiangyan more and more vibrant, vibrant and nourishing for a long time. Dujiangyan is not only a great achievement in the history of water conservancy in China, but also a model of using nature without destroying it in the history of water conservancy in the world.

3. Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal

The Grand Canal is the main artery connecting the north and south waterways of China. It consists of several canals, starting from Hangzhou in the south and reaching Beiping in the north, with a total length of 1 1,740 km. It is the longest and oldest Grand Canal in the world. The distance between the north and the south is a cloud, and the mandarin crosses the land and travels a hundred miles. It is noted that the east and west are widely transported from south to north. Therefore, the Grand Canal is a huge North-South transportation channel connected by artificial ditches and natural water systems, and combining human and natural conditions.

The Grand Canal starts from Beiping in the north and ends in Hangzhou in the south, runs through Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and connects five major water systems, namely Haihe River, Yellow River, Huaihe River, Yangtze River and Qiantang River, with a total length of 1740 km. Cutting mountains and digging canals, diverting water to water tanks and connecting north and south have two benefits: irrigation and transportation. The Grand Canal, also known as the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal, can be traced back to the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, when Fu Cha, the king of Wu (reigned from 495 BC to 476 BC), dug a "Han ditch" (486 BC) to communicate.

Baidu encyclopedia-ancient water conservancy project