Let's take a look at the Sui and Tang Grand Canal first. The Grand Canal in Sui and Tang Dynasties was dredged on the basis of numerous canals in various parts of China. Since the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, Fu Cha, King of Wu, dug the Han River, which is the earliest section of the Grand Canal recorded in history. Later, Lingqu and Hancao canals were opened in Qin Dynasty. After Wei and Jin Dynasties, Baigou, Pinglu Canal, Houjia Canal, Lu Tao Canal, pogangdu Canal, Huangongdu Canal and Yangkou Canal were successively dug, reaching Guanzhong in the west, Guangdong and Guangxi in the south and North China Plain.
These artificial canals are interwoven with natural rivers and can reach most areas of China. This vast waterway laid the foundation for digging the Grand Canal in Sui and Tang Dynasties. On the basis of these local canals, the Sui Dynasty connected them in series with some natural rivers, forming the initial appearance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties Grand Canal.
Then the Tang Dynasty further dredged and excavated the Sui and Tang Grand Canal. It mainly dredges the side canals, Han 'gou and Jiangnan Canal, and excavates and manages the Danba Waterway, Inclined Discharge Waterway, Lingqu Waterway and Water Diversion Waterway of the Yellow River. Through the efforts of the Tang Dynasty, the main stream and tributaries of the entire canal were smoothly connected, and the water transport industry became increasingly prosperous.
So what is the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal? The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is actually the deformation and transformation of the Sui and Tang Grand Canal. There are both overlaps and differences between the two. Conceptually, they belong to two historical stages. The so-called Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is a canal concept gradually formed on the basis of canal reconstruction in Yuan Dynasty. After the Yuan Dynasty, the capital moved from Luoyang to Beijing.
The transfer of national political and economic center will inevitably have a great impact on shipping demand. On the basis of the Grand Canal in Sui and Tang Dynasties, the Grand Canal was diverted in Yuan Dynasty, and the horizontal canal with Luoyang as the center in Sui and Tang Dynasties was built into a vertical canal with metropolis as the center and Hangzhou as the south. At this point, the prototype of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal was formed. After the renovation and excavation of the canal in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it gradually formed the longest ancient canal in the world, which now runs through five major water systems: Haihe River, Yellow River, Huaihe River, Yangtze River and Qiantang River.
It can be seen that the Sui and Tang Grand Canal and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal cannot be confused. The Grand Canal in Sui and Tang Dynasties is centered on Luoyang and runs through the north and south in an adult shape. The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is a north-south longitudinal direction connecting Beijing and Hangzhou, and its length is shorter than that of the Sui and Tang Dynasties Grand Canal. They belong to different historical periods.