The construction of canals in my country has a long history, which can be traced back to the Qin Dynasty 2,000 years ago. At that time, Qin Shi Huang dug the Ling Canal in order to unify China. It opened up the two major water systems of the Yangtze River and the Pearl River and played an important role in Qin Shi Huang's unification cause.
What truly connected the north and the south and had far-reaching influence was the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, which was expanded to the north during the Sui Dynasty. After many reconstructions and expansions in different dynasties, the Qiantang River, Yangtze River, Huaihe River, Yellow River, and Haihe River were connected, forming a major north-south water transport channel connecting multiple water systems.
The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal broke the general pattern of my country's major rivers running from west to east, created an inland transportation artery that ran from north to south, and promoted the development of commercial towns along the line. Its strategic significance is still outstanding today. The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is not only one of the most famous canals in the world, it has also made significant contributions to the economic development of north and south China since ancient times.
The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is an important inland waterway connecting the south of the Yangtze River and the north. So is there an inland waterway connecting the south of the Yangtze River and south China? To be honest, this really doesn't exist.
However, this is also something that some people have wanted to accomplish from ancient times to the present, which is to dig the Ganjiang-Guangdong Canal between the Ganjiang River in Jiangxi and the Pearl River in Guangdong in order to connect the two major water systems of the Yangtze River and the Pearl River.
Jiangxi is located in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, where the Yangtze River has dense tributaries and numerous lakes. Poyang Lake in particular is not only the largest lake in the Yangtze River Basin, but also the largest freshwater lake in China.
As the seventh largest tributary of the Yangtze River system, the Ganjiang River connects the main stream of the Yangtze River and Poyang Lake to the north, and looks south to the Beijiang River, a tributary of the Pearl River located in Shaoguan, Guangdong. Jiangxi has long been known as "the head of Wu and the tail of Chu, and the household of Guangdong and Fujian"!
For this reason, some people proposed to build the Jiangxi-Guangdong Canal in ancient times. According to historical records, the first person to propose this idea was Jie Jin, a great scholar in the Ming Dynasty and the chief author of the Yongle Dadian. In his memorial to Zhu Di, he mentioned that he hoped to dig a canal between Ganjiang River and Beijiang River to irrigate farmland.
During the Republic of China, Mr. Sun Yat-sen also proposed a plan to build a canal in his "Strategy for the Founding of the Republic of China". It was used to develop shipping and agriculture in southern Jiangxi and northern Guangdong, and a construction plan was once planned. However, due to the war, this plan came to nothing.
Since the founding of New China, calls for the construction of the Jiangxi-Guangdong Canal have become increasingly louder. The Jiangxi Provincial Department of Transportation has also mentioned the plan to build the Jiangxi-Guangdong Canal in the work plans submitted over the years.
In the 1980s, someone put forward the plan and specific ideas for building the Jiangxi-Guangdong Canal: the development experience of the Tennessee River in the United States and the Rhone River in France could be learned. The construction of the canal will bring considerable dividends to the economy, agriculture, transportation, and tourism in southern Jiangxi and northern Guangdong. The entire process starts from the mouth of the Yangtze River, enters the Ganjiang River, passes through Xinfeng, and enters Nanxiong, Guangdong. A river channel of about 6 kilometers will be dug to connect the Beijiang River to the main stream of the Pearl River.
This proposal at that time also received great attention, and it also cooperated with relevant departments such as the Ministry of Water Resources, the Ministry of Transport, and the Ministry of Agriculture to plan funding sources and construction plans many times. However, due to immature conditions and other objective factors, the plan was ultimately shelved.
In the 21st century, with the growth of my country's economic development, the construction of the Jiangxi-Guangdong Canal has been put on the agenda again. In 2002, Liu Dehong, then deputy director of the Maritime Safety Administration of the Ministry of Transport, submitted a proposal to the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference: "Open the Jiangxi-Guangdong Canal and lay the foundation for enriching the people."
As governments at all levels intensify their efforts to regulate inland waterways, high-level waterways in the Ganjiang River Basin and Beijiang River Basin have been built and opened to navigation, which has also laid a solid foundation for the construction of the Ganjiang-Guangdong Canal.
When inspecting the Yangzhou section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal, the General Secretary mentioned the importance of the canal to the national economy and surrounding people. This once again put forward clear opinions on the construction of the Jiangxi-Guangdong Canal from the country to the local level. direction.
But building a canal is also a huge project. There is currently a plan and concept for the Jiangxi-Guangdong Canal:
In recent years, with the construction of Kongjiang Reservoir and Xinjiang River near the watershed, With the completion of a number of waterway projects such as the Bazizui Navigation and Power Hub and the Jinggangshan Navigation and Power Hub, the Ganjiang and Xinjiang waterways can now accommodate thousand-ton ships.
The Jiangxi-Guangdong Canal has been included in the national high-level waterway network layout plan of "four vertical, four horizontal and two networks", and it is expected that the waterways will be rectified in a hierarchical manner. Strive to create a golden waterway connecting the Yangtze River system, the Pearl River system and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.
With the opening of the canal in the future, shipping from the rivers in central and southern Jiangxi can directly reach the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta regions. This will provide an important channel for rapid development for the economic development of southern Jiangxi and northern Guangdong. At the same time, it also provides a barrier for flood control and drought prevention in the Yangtze River Basin and Pearl River Basin.
Water conservancy projects have always been a major national event, and the resulting controversy has also been constant. Some people have raised objections to the ancient Beijing-Hangzhou Canal and the modern Three Gorges Project, and the Jiangxi-Guangdong Canal is no exception.
From the beginning of the idea of ??the Jiangxi-Guangdong Canal, there have been many opposing voices and different opinions. Among them, the impact on the ecology of the Yangtze River Basin and Poyang Lake has always been the key to the failure of the project to be fully implemented so far.
Many experts, scholars and the general public believe that building a canal in the upper reaches of the Gan River will inevitably have a major impact on the water quality and quantity of Poyang Lake in the lower reaches, and digging river channels to divert water into the Beijiang River will also greatly reduce the amount of water in the Gan River. The amount of water that the Yangtze River merges into Poyang Lake and the Yangtze River.
At present, the ecosystem of Poyang Lake is quite fragile. Excessive economic development and river construction have made the water area smaller and smaller. If the canal is dug, it will further intensify the damage to the ecology of China's largest freshwater lake, which will in turn affect the ecological environment of the entire middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.
At the same time, the excavation of open channels will inevitably affect the ecological environment of the border area between Jiangxi and Guangdong, especially the vegetation in the watershed area.
Another opinion is that now our country’s highways and high-speed railway transportation have entered the world’s advanced level, and inland waterway shipping does not account for a large proportion. Spending a lot of manpower and material resources to build the canal is neither in line with the national conditions nor in reality, both in the short term and in the long term. In particular, the central and southern regions of Jiangxi Province are already economically poor and will inevitably pay a high price for the construction of the canal.
However, from a comprehensive perspective, it may not be impossible to build the Jiangxi-Guangdong Canal. As an ancient transportation system of mankind, inland river shipping has played an important role in the progress of human history and civilization.
Whether it is the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal in China or the Panama Canal, Suez Canal, and Rhine-Danube Canal in the world, they have been criticized to some extent during the construction process. But judging from the actual contributions these canals have brought to mankind, the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.
Our country has a vast territory and rich water resources. Although the mileage of inland waterways ranks first in the world, only 7 are waterways above 1,000 tons, which is far lower than the average of 60 in developed countries in Europe and the United States.
Therefore, scientific planning and reasonable channel regulation, while taking into account development, also require a deep awareness of the protection of the natural ecological environment, and focus on exploring channel regulation and resources in the Yangtze River, Pearl River Basin and Beijing-Hangzhou Canal Basin. advantages in order to develop the Jiangxi-Guangdong Canal project more rationally.
It will truly turn the natural chasm into a clear path and comprehensively promote the economic development of central and southern Jiangxi and northern Guangdong. It does not destroy the green waters and mountains, but also builds an ideal waterway leading to mountains of gold and silver!