Due to its unique geographical location, ancient Changzhou occupies an important position in the history of "water transport". It is connected to Jingkou on the top and Gusu on the bottom, with many rivers and lakes. It borders the Yangtze River in the north, Gehu Lake in the south and Taihu Lake in the southeast. Furong Lake, second only to Taihu Lake, is superior to the southeast. Therefore, Changzhou has become a "state of three lakes and a meeting of the East".
In 1930s, when there was a flood in the south of the Yangtze River, Zhou Chen went to the south of the Yangtze River to control the water, so he built fields around lakes and blocked rivers for flood control. After 20 years of reclamation of 37,000 mu of land, Furong Lake, Yanghu Lake and Linjin Lake gradually decreased and disappeared, resulting in insufficient water resources and unbalanced water level in Changzhou, making Changzhou, which is dominated by lake water, become dominated by river water. Due to the disrepair of the canal, the quicksand in the Yangtze River has been seriously silted, and the sunken ship carrying grain to the north has been sinking. By the end of Qing Dynasty, most canals in Shandong were blocked, and grain could not be transported from Changzhou. In the fifth year of Daoguang (1825), the waterway transportation test was successful, and Changzhou gradually moved eastward to Wuxi. Since then, the history of shipping, Changzhou and canal transportation for more than two thousand years has come to an end.
The producing areas of grain are mainly in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. Since the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces have gradually become the most developed agricultural areas in China, and the grain output ranks first in China. In addition, due to the unobstructed rivers in this area, the Grand Canal is connected with major cities in the north after development, which is more conducive to the transportation of grain. Han Yu, a writer in the Tang Dynasty, once said: "Today, with the blessing of the world, Jiangnan ranks nineteenth." This means that nine-tenths of the income of the Tang Dynasty came from Jiangnan. Li Huaizhong in the Song Dynasty once said: "There is a canal in Tokyo called Bià n, which brought millions of meters to Jianghuai at the age of 10. Hundreds of thousands of guards were returned, and there were many Tibetan soldiers." The general idea is that due to the development of branch canals and the passage of water transportation, Kaifeng, the capital city, can transport millions of welcome grain and rice from Jianghuai area every year, which solves the problems of inventory and food for hundreds of thousands of troops. It can be seen that during the Tang and Song Dynasties, the grain produced in the Jianghuai area had been transported in large quantities to meet the needs of the north.
In 495 BC, Fu Cha, the king of Wu, dug the Sunan Canal, starting from Wang Ting in Suzhou in the east, passing through Wuxi and Changzhou, reaching Niu Ben and Meng He in Wujin, and entering the Yangtze River, which became the Sunan section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, and the Changzhou section was the Changzhou Ancient Canal. Since then, Changzhou has become a transportation center with water and water transportation as the main symbols, which has brought the prosperity of Changzhou's economy and various social undertakings as a "trilateral country, a meeting of boats and cars".
The ancient Changzhou water system took the ancient canal as the diameter and the north-south rivers as the latitude, forming a crisscross water network. Besides the Grand Canal, there are Desheng River, South Canal, New Meng He and Baidang River. The feeder channels include Guanhe, Qinglong Port, Xinsanshan Port, Beitang River, Cailing River, Datong River, Dawanbang, Dongcun River, Laosanshan Port, Tangding River, Tongzi River, Fenghuang River, Suoqiao River, Longyou River and Tongji River. These rivers not only formed a crisscross network of traffic and water, but also gradually formed a city center with the ancient canal as the axis: from the construction of a tucheng here by Chu in the Warring States Period to the construction of Neizi City in the Taikang period of the Western Jin Dynasty; From Yang Di's construction of a huge piling palace on the Xiacheng Bridge in the southeast of the city (later destroyed by war) to the opening of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, Changzhou gradually expanded and prospered, and finally formed an urban economic zone and urban pattern centered on the ancient canal.
The ancient Changzhou economy was a natural economy led by water transportation. Until half a century ago, water transport and its development played an important role in Changzhou's economy and urban development.
Household handicraft industry, workshop handicraft industry, weaving, transportation, commerce and trade, service industry and traditional cultural undertakings. Based on the developed agriculture of "Su Changshu is the best in the world", it is the industrial structure characteristic of ancient Changzhou Canal Economic Belt. Specific industries include water transport, civil construction, ceramics, iron smelting, paper making, silk weaving, combs and so on. At that time, two-color cotton cloth and lacquered combs were sold all over the country, five-color flat peach silk and "palace comb" became royal items of the court, and bronzes were also exported overseas. The commercial areas on both sides of the ancient canal, such as Xiyingli, Biji Lane, Xizhi Street, Dou Shi River, Mishi River and Mushu Street, are prosperous. A downtown area called "big city" has been formed on both sides of Houhe River (in front of Xiaoying) in Changzhou City. "picturesque Baiyun Watanabe merchants gather, Mashan port is crowded with cargo ships, boats paddle in the river, traffic on both sides of the strait is busy, and shops are everywhere"; All kinds of handicraft workshops are spread all over Qian Jie, Kefang, West Street, Canal and Chenghe. Cultural and religious facilities such as official school, county school, Tianning Temple and the "351st Floor" are all over the city ... as ancient and prosperous as The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival!
The historical position of Changzhou ancient canal economic belt. Ancient Changzhou, centered on the ancient canal economic belt, was not only the seat of county, state, road and government for thousands of years, but also upgraded to one of the "Ten Outlooks" in the country in the Tang Dynasty, and was in the position of "Jiangdong Prefecture, the largest in Changzhou". It is not only one of the national 15 paper-making centers, one of the five major silk producing areas in the south of the Yangtze River, a distribution center for water transportation and home textiles, and one of the famous rice markets since the Sui and Tang Dynasties, but also ranked among the 33 major commercial and handicraft cities in China in the Ming Dynasty, laying an important position as "three Zhen Wu and eight cities" in the Qing Dynasty.