As the world's longest man-made canal, the Grand Canal is one of the greatest hydraulic projects in human history. It stretches 1,794 kilometers from Beijing, passing through Tianjin and the provinces of Hebei, Shandong, Henan, Jiangsu, Anhui and Zhejiang and connecting the Hai River, the Yellow River, Huai River, Yangtze River and Qiantang River. As an artery connecting northern and southern China, it has long contributed to the nation's prosperity.

Constructed in sections from the 5th century BC onwards, it was conceived as a unified means of communication for the Empire for the first time in the 7th century AD (Sui dynasty). This led to a series of gigantic construction sites, creating the world’s largest and most extensive civil engineering project prior to the Industrial Revolution.

It formed the backbone of the Empire’s inland communication system, transporting grain and strategic raw materials, and supplying rice to feed the population. By the 13th century it consisted of more than 2,000 km of artificial waterways, linking five of China’s main river basins. Its management was made possible over a long period by means of the Caoyun system, the imperial monopoly for the transport of grain and strategic raw materials, and for the taxation and control of traffic. The system enabled the supply of rice to feed the population, the unified administration of the territory, and the transport of troops.

The Grand Canal was listed into the World Heritage sites in 2014. With more than two thousand years’ continuous development and evolution, it still plays an important traffic and water conservancy function.

Tongzhou Grand Canal Park: No. 70, Tonghu Street, Tongzhou District, Beijing, +86-10-8085-5502