Home / News
Beijing is nowadays blessed with convenient airports and high-speed railway stations to connect itself with the world. In contrast, ancient transportation to Beijing was so different that passengers could only travel using the Grand Canal. "Boating to Beijing" has been beyond modern people's wildest dreams since the Grand Canal's suspension half a century ago.
But thanks to its listing as a World Heritage site and the national strategy of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei's integrated development, the three regions plan to work together to resume the canal and restart water commuting routes to Beijing.
The water authority and transportation departments from Beijing's Tongzhou district and Hebei province’s Xianghe county visited Tianjin's Wuqing district this September to hold a seminar and sign a cooperation agreement on the canal's resumption.
"Resumption of the Grand Canal is a must-do. According to the agreement signed by three regions, we plan to open the canal for tourism in 2017 and restart freight transportation in 2020," said Li Chunfa, director of Wuqing's water authority department.
The Grand Canal had been an important route for vessels to enter Beijing since the Yuan Dynasty. Connecting Beijing's Tonghuihe River in the north and Tianjin's Haihe River in the south, the north part of the Grand Canal ran through Tongzhou, Xianghe, and Wuqing.
The total length of the north part reaches 120 kilometers. Until now, Tongzhou, Xianghe, and Wuqing have left 28 kilometers, 21 kilometers, and 10 kilometers of canal unusable, according to Li.
The canal connecting Beijing and Tianjin was first established in Daye's reign in the Sui Dynasty (608 A.D.). Lushui Canal was opened and became the predecessor of the Grand Canal's north part in Taihe’s reign in the Jin Dynasty (1205).
The rebuilding of Tonghuihe River in the Yuan Dynasty expanded the canal from Tongzhou to Beijing's urban area of Jishuitan and effected commuting over water between Beijing and Tianjin.
Since the establishment of the Peolple's Republic of China, the resumption of water commuting between Beijing and Tianjin has been continuously brought up, but all have failed. The failures were due to reasons such as coordination of different region's departments, uncertain water levels, low economic value, and difficulties in world heritage site constructions.
