CHINESE WATERWAYS.
“But if, with bays and dams, they strive to force
His channel to a new or narrow course,
No longer then within his banks he dwells,
First to a torrent, then a deluge swells.”
—_Denham._
The most remarkable canal in the world is, in many respects, the Grand
Canal of China. It is also, probably, the canal of all others of which
the least is known. The fullest account hitherto extant, relative
to this waterway, is that published by Marco Polo, and therefore
dates as far back as the thirteenth century.[126] Several writers
state that the Grand Canal of China was constructed in the tenth
century, and Priestley—who does not, however, quote the source of his
information—declares that it was completed in the year 980. Seeing,
however, that Polo, writing from Tartary in 1278, speaks as if the
canal were then in course of construction, this is hardly likely to be
correct. “You must understand,” he says, “that the Emperor has caused
a water communication to be made from this city (Kwachan) to Camboluc,
in the hope of a wide and deep channel, dug between stream and stream,
between lake and lake, forming, as it were, a great river on which
large vessels can ply.” Polo is confirmed by other writers, and Dr.
Williams, in one of the most recent and reliable works on China,[127]
states that “the canal was designed by Kublai to reach from his own
capital as far as Hangchau, the former capital of the Sung dynasty.”
This, again, seems to be at variance with the testimony of Pére
Mailla,[128] who, writing in the last century, declared that he and his
brother Jesuits gazed with astonishment and admiration at the chasms
which the Emperor Yu caused to be cut through solid mountains for the
waters of the Yellow River.[129] If this does not refer to the Grand
Canal, it may be presumed, as a writer in the ‘Encyclopædia Britannica’
has pointed out,[130] that it was the water itself and not the Emperor
Yu that opened these channels. The date of the construction of the
Grand Canal of China is thus, like many other matters pertaining to the
history of that country, involved in obscurity. But no such uncertainty
hangs over its extent and importance. The canal is nearly 700 miles
in length, and reaches from Hang-choo-foo to Yan-liang river, having
connections with the rivers Yang-tse-kiang and Ho-hang-ho, or the
Yellow River.[131] Davis has given a description of the work,[132] from
which it would appear that for some distance after the canal joins the
Yu-ho, on its eastern bank, as that river flows towards the Peiho, it
evidently follows the bed of a natural river. Its course is winding,
and its banks are irregular and inartificial. It has, however, stone
abutments and flood-gates for the purpose of regulating its waters. The
distance between the stone piers in some of the flood-gates is often
very narrow. The course of the water through these gates is arrested
in rather a primitive fashion. Stout boards, with ropes fastened to
each end, are let down edgeways over each other, through grooves in
the stone piers. A number of soldiers and workmen always attend at the
sluices, and shield the boats from danger by letting down coils of
rope, in the same way as a ship’s “fender,” to break the force of the
blows. The highest point of the canal appears to be at the influx of
the Yun-ho, which enters the canal on its eastern side nearly at right
angles, while part of its waters flow north and part south. At this
point, where a strong facing of stone on the western bank sustains the
force of the influx, there is an interesting temple, erected to the
Dragon King, or genius of the watery element, who is supposed to have
the canal in his special keeping. The work of joining the Yun-ho, and
the Grand Canal is attributed to Sung Li, who lived under Hungwa, the
first Emperor of the Ming dynasty, about 1375. It was accomplished in
this wise. A part of the canal in Shantung became so impassable in
the time of Sung Li, that the roundabout coasting passage by sea had
to be resorted to. An old man, named Piying, thereupon proposed to
Sung a scheme for the concentration of the waters on the Yun-ho and
neighbouring streams and their diversion into the canal, as at present.
It is said that Sung employed 300,000 men to carry out the work, and
that it was completed in seven months; but the Chinese historians are
not, unfortunately, the most veracious.
For a great part of its route the Grand Canal runs through a level
and marshy district. In some places, indeed, the canal becomes merged
in the lakes and swamps which surround it. In other places, however,
where there appears to be a special risk of inundation, the banks of
the canal are well faced with stone. The canal, before leaving the
lakes in the southern part of Shanting, used to run nearly parallel
with that stream for more than a hundred miles, and between it and
the New Salt River for a great part of that distance. This river,
formerly described as one well adapted for navigation, has now become
completely silted up, and at Kiafung the difference of level is so
trifling that the siltage there has been enough to turn the current
into the river Wei and elsewhere. At the opening of the canal there is
a sluice nearly 100 yards across, through which the water is said to
rush into the river like a mill-race. There is, however, a makeshift
sort of appearance about the canal works generally. The banks are in
many places constructed of earth, strengthened with sorghum stalks and
strongly bound with cordage; and Davis, in speaking of the attempt made
to repair the damage caused by the inundation of the Yellow River in
this way, remarks very justly that if the science of a Brunel[133] could
be allowed to operate on the Yellow River and Grand Canal, “a benefit
might be conferred on the Chinese that would more than compensate for
all the evil we have inflicted with our opium and our guns.”
At about 70 miles from its mouth the Grand Canal reaches the Yellow
River, and between the Yellow and Yantsz’ rivers, a distance of 90
miles, it is carried largely upon a raised work of earth, kept together
by retaining walls of stone, which are in some places not less than 20
feet above the surrounding country. The width of the channel at this
point is about 200 feet, and the current is stated to be three miles
an hour. South of the Hwang-ho there are several large towns below the
level of these walls, which would be overwhelmed with destruction if
they were to give way. From these towns—the principal being Hwai-ngang
and Pauying—the canal falls to the Yantsz’, and at Yangchan its level
is again below that of the houses on either side. Every stream or lake
whose waters can be led into it has a connection with the canal, which
has several inlets into the great river Yantsz’, whence navigation is
possible for a distance of 2900 miles. East of Chin Kiang the canal
leaves the Yantsz’, and proceeds through a rich and fertile country,
highly cultivated, and supporting an enormous population, Suchan and
Hangchan being among the principal towns on its banks.
The northern end of the canal is a channel, 14 miles in length, between
Tung-chan and Pekin, which, passing under the city walls, finishes its
course of some 600 miles at the palace walls, close by the British
Legation. The section between Pekin and the Yellow River is said to
have been opened by the Mongols about 1289, by merely joining the
rivers and lakes to each other as they now exist. One of the old
passages, from Hungtsih Lake northwards, has long been closed, but an
attempt has been recently made to open it, so that boats can reach
Tientsin from Kwachan.
In many works, some of them of considerable pretensions, a great
deal more is claimed for this waterway than it really deserves. No
doubt there was no work in the world equal to it when it was first
opened, and probably in Asia it is still unrivalled. Dr. Williams is
correct also in his statement that it reflects far more credit upon
the monarchs who devised and executed it than the Great Wall.[134] But
the whole structure is crude and primitive in a high degree, compared
with more modern canals. Without efficient locks, the canal has to be
conducted around the different elevations met with in its course. The
boats that use the canal have to be dragged through and up the sluices
close to the banks, by large windlasses, whereby they are brought into
still water by a very tedious process.
The canal is largely used for passenger traffic, but the rate of
progress seldom exceeds 25 to 30 miles a day, and is often under 20.
The greater part of the work has been expended in the simple labour
of constructing embankments, and not, as in the case of the Panama
and Suez Canals, in digging a deep channel. The rudiments, if not the
complete essentials, of this waterway were already available when the
Mongols joined the rivers and lakes to each other by means of the
canal; but it is creditable to the successive dynasties that have ruled
over China, and especially to the Ming and Tsing emperors, that they
have always kept the waterway open and in tolerable repair.
Mr. William Chapman, in his ‘Obervations on the various systems of
Canal Navigation,’ states that the “grand canal of China is in fact
only a river or stream navigation, although greatly diverted by art
from its ancient course in some parts; the current of the water being
slow, and prevented from running off too rapidly by its descent being
occasionally checked by flood gates, consisting of two abutments of
stone, one projecting from each bank, and leaving a space in the middle
just wide enough to admit a passage for the largest vessels employed
upon the canal. To prevent unnecessary waste of water through the
flood gates, the passages are occasionally closed by planks let down
transversely and separately, one above the other, their ends resting
in a vertical groove in each abutment.” The same author has observed
that it was probably between the years of the Christian era 605 and
618 that these were introduced. Again, he says:—“The Chinese method
of overcoming ascents appears to be long subsequent to the attempts of
the Egyptians, under the successors of Alexander, who, according to
Mons. Huet, Bishop of Avranches, had the art of constructing sluices,
or locks of one set of gates, so as to stop the impetuosity of the
current, and be occasionally opened. Though termed gates, the openings
were most probably closed with beams of timber, let down in grooves, as
gates of large width and depth could not be opened without difficulty.”
There are many subsidiary canals in China. In a country that has no
railways and very few roads, water transport is of much more importance
than in any European State. Canals have been cut from the Grand Canal
in every direction, and are largely used.
FOOTNOTES:
[126] Marco Polo spent seventeen years at the court of Kublai, the
great Khan of the Tartars. The first edition of his travels appeared
in 1496, and the work has been translated into several languages.
He gave a better description of China than had previously been
written, and although much of what he wrote was at the time doubted,
his narratives have been largely verified by subsequent travellers.
Colonel Yule has published an admirable edition of Polo’s travels for
English readers.
[127] ‘The Middle Kingdom,’ vol. i. p. 31.
[128] Mailla was despatched by the Jesuits in 1703 on a mission into
the interior of China, and had a good opportunity of knowing the
country, where he lived for forty-five years, and of which he was
employed by the emperor to construct a map.
[129] ‘Histoire générale de la Chine, ou Annales de cet Empire,
traduite du Tong-Kien-Kang-Mou.’ 13 vols.
[130] 8th edition, art. “China.”
[131] The Ho-hang-ho, or Yellow River, sometimes described as
“China’s sorrow,” is about 2000 miles in length, and its periodical
overflowings cause frequent damage to the canal.
[132] ‘Sketches of China,’ vol. i. p. 245.
[133] Brunel, by the way, was not specially identified with canal
construction. Perhaps the writer means Brindley. Brunel had, however,
no doubt sufficient knowledge of his art to serve the purpose in view.
[134] This enormous undertaking was, however, erected at least 1100
years before the Grand Canal, having been finished B.C. 204. Its
entire length is 1255 miles in a straight line, and it was ten years
in building.