隋朝大运河

　　中国的大河如黄河、长江等，大多数是从西向东奔流入海。南北之间要有一條暢通的河流，只能靠人力开凿。中国古代劳动人民开凿过不少人工河道，其中最著名的就是大运河。

　　公元605至610年，隋炀帝为了加强对南北方的控制，活跃南北物资的交流，动用几百万民工，花费了约6年的时间，开凿了这条运河。其中有些河段，是把以前挖好的运河修复、增宽、加深，中间也利用一些天然河、湖与运河相连接。隋代大运河全长2,000多千米，水面宽30到70米不等，北通涿郡(今北京)，南达余杭(今杭州)，它沟通了海河、黄河、淮河、长江、钱塘江等大河流，经过今天的河北、山东、河南、安徽、江苏和浙江等广大地区。大运河的开通，对于促进南北经济、文化的交流和发展，维护国家的统一，起到了非常重要的作用。隋炀帝南下游玩就利用了运河，随行的船有几千艘，在大运河中船头船尾相连，竟有两百多里长。

　　元朝在疏通旧河道的基础上又开凿了山东运河和通惠河，形成一条北起北京、南达杭州的京杭直通大运河，使它成为中国南北交通的重要水路。

　　中国今日又计划修复大运河，目的不仅是为方便南北的联系，更主要是使南水北调，解决北方缺水的问题。

　　The Grand Canal

　　China's major rivers, such as the Yellow River and the Yangtze River, all flow from west to east into the ocean. There was long felt a need for a waterway to facilitate transport from north to south and vice versa. Several attempts to build a north-south canal had been made, but had been only partially successful. Finally, the stretches of the canals that had been dug earlier were joined up, and the Grand Canal came into existence.

　　The work was started by Emperor Yangdi (605-618 AD) of the Sui Dynasty. The Grand Canal took several million workers about six years to complete. Some natural rivers and lakes were also included in the project. The Grand Canal was originally some 2,000 km long, and the width of the water surface was from 30 to 70 m. The canal reached Zhuojun County (in today's Beijing) in the north, and extended to Yuhang (today's Hangzhou) in the south. It was connected with big rivers like the Haihe, the Yellow River, the Huaihe, the Yangtze River and the Qiantang. The canal flows through Hebei, Shandong, Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. The opening of the Grand Canal played a very important role in promoting the economic and cultural development of the whole country and in maintaining political unity. Emperor Yangdi traveled to the south along the canal, accompanied by a vast fleet of ships some 100 km long.

　　In the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368 AD), the canal was further dredged and extended to become the main north-south communication waterway.

　　Today, China is planning to restore the Grand Canal, not only for the convenience of transportation between the north and the south, but also to transfer water from the south to the north to solve the problem of water shortage in the north.