Download China`s Amazing Grand Canal and How it Changed History

China’s Amazing Grand Canal and How it Changed History
Sara Shenk
Level: 9th grade Global Studies honors
Standards: Social Studies Standard 2 World History and Standard 3 Geography
Essential question: What was the purpose and impact of China’s Grand Canal?
Objectives - Students will:
 be able to develop a hypothesis about why the Grand Canal was constructed
 be able to describe the economic, political and social impacts of the Grand
Canal on China
Anticipatory Set:
Have students examine the map of China’s major rivers. In what ways might the
layout of the rivers present challenges for the government? Ask some students to
share their thoughts. If no one comes up with the fact that they all flow East and
West, lead them to this answer and why it would have made expansion and unity
difficult. Now ask students to come up with ideas of how early Chinese dynasties
might have addressed this challenge.
Lesson Steps: (Estimated time – 2 days)
 Have students look at the maps of the Grand Canal and make some
predictions about how construction of the canal may have impacted China.
 Students should read the article on the Grand Canal to find information to
use to fill out their chart on economic, political and social impacts.
 Watch the video about the Grand Canal and have students add notes to their
charts
 Lead a classroom discussion about the importance of the Grand Canal to
China’s development
Materials Needed:
 Student Handout (China’s Grand Canal)
 Map of China’s major rivers (attachment #1)
 Map of the Great Wall and Grand Canal (attachment #2)
 Map of the Grand Canal (attachment #3)
 Reading on the Grand Canal (attachment #4)
 YouTube videos on the Grand Canal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LCLv8Ml2ho
Assessment:
 Students hand in their chart on the impacts of the Grand Canal
 Teacher observation during discussion
Attachment #1
enchantedlearning.com
Attachment #2
afe.easia.columbia.edu
Attachment #3
The Grand Canal
chinatouristmaps.com
Attachment #4
TED Case Studies
The Grand Canal (http://www1.american.edu/ted/3gorges.htm)
The Grand Canal of Imperial China was a massive public works project that, in its final
form, connected the political center of the empire in the north with the economic and
agricultural center in the south as well as the Yellow (Huang He) an Yangtze (Chiang
Jiang) River basins. The creation of an Imperial Canal system during the Sui-Tang
period marked the culmination of centuries of water control projects and facilitated the
expansion and control of an increasingly large Empire. The expansion of the canal
system and the communications it provided, help accomplish this. The creation of the
canal system also spurred the formation of a vast administrative bureaucracy to manage
and maintain the canal, and direct the shipment of grain from the south and east to the
capital.
The Grand Canal underwent two major periods of development. The first period was
during the Sui-Tang era (589-960 AD), in which the canal system consisted of two
branches linked to the Yellow River. The northern branch extended from the vicinity of
Luoyang on the Yellow River to Zhojun near present day Beijing. The second leg
extended from the Yellow River to the southeast through the Huai River basin to the
Yangtze River region. The second stage of development was during the Yuan dynasty
period (1279-1367 AD).1 This period of Mongol domination saw the canal repositioned
to follow a more direct north-south line between the capital at Beijing (The capital was
moved to the Beijing area to ease communication with their steppe homeland and farflung western conquests.) and the economically vital Yangtze River valley, thus
facilitating their control over an expansive Asian Empire.2
The original Sui Dynasty construction, begun in 548 AD, connected and expanded upon
pre-existing canals and waterways to form one unified system of intra-state
communications and transport. This system promoted vast changes in territorial expanse,
increased population flows to the south and east, as well as the corresponding economic
development and expansion in those regions, not to mention innovations in bureaucratic
institutions. It allowed the short lived Sui Dynasty and its successor Tang to exert
centralized authority over a large area. This resulted in a dramatic increase in the size
and importance of the public granary system by overcoming the logistical difficulties
inherent in moving tons of grain from the south and east to the northern capitals. In
doing so, they were able to integrate northern and southern China in to a single politicaleconomic entity. After this first system was completed in 608 AD, the Grand Canal was
filled with fleets of boats moving in vast convoys to and from the capital and it provided
increased access to the southern ocean and the lucrative trade with the kingdoms of
Southeast Asia.3
The Tang Dynasty's contribution to the Grand Canal System consisted primarily of
management, maintenance and administrative systems that enhanced the efficiency of the
system as well as improvements in the physical make-up of the canal itself. This, in tern,
increased central government control over the country. At its height, over 424,000 tons
of grain were shipped to the capital each year on the canal, not to mention the mountains
of other goods that plied the waterway.4 The effectiveness of the Grand Canal laid the
ground work for the strength of future dynasties and of the imperial system as a
whole. Eventually the Grand Canal became a symbol of the imperial system itself. As
fared the canal, so fared the dynasty.5
The Yuan Dynasty of the Mongols oversaw the final major change to the canal
system. When the Mongols moved the capital to the Beijing area in northern China, to
facilitate communications with the greater Mongol Empire, it became necessary to shift
the canal along a straight north-south axis. This was an incredible engineering feat in that
it crossed the Shandong peninsula, an area of much higher elevation, requiring the
construction of numerous locks and gates. Amazingly this was accomplished within the
first twenty years of the Dynasty. (completed circa 1299 AD)6 A Few Facts about the Grand Canal
(http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/china/grand-canal.htm)
1) The canal’s length is approximately 1100 miles. It starts in Beijing and
passes through Tianjin and the provinces of Hebei, Shandong,
Zhejiang, Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu.
2) It is 21 times longer than the Panama Canal, and surpasses the Suez
Canal by 10 times.
3) Over twice the length of the Erie canal, the Grand Canal of China is by
far the longest artificial waterway in the world.
4) Some historians estimate that as many as five million men were
pressed into service [to construct the Grand Canal].
China’s Grand Canal
Name__________________________________
period _____
Looking at the maps of the Grand Canal, make some predictions about possible
economic, political and social impacts its construction may have had on China:
As you look at the maps, read about and watch the video about the Grand Canal, fill in as
many specific examples of the following impacts as you can:
Economic Impacts
Political Impacts
Social Impacts