Ancient Canal National Water Conservancy Scenic Area in Huai'an City

Ancient Canal National Water Conservancy Scenic Area in Huai'an City

The Ancient Canal National Water Conservancy Scenic Area in Huai'an City is a municipal-level cultural heritage site and a national water conservancy scenic area.

The Ancient Canal National Water Conservancy Scenic Area in Huai'an City is located within the urban area of Huai'an. It stretches 30 kilometers from Yangzhuang Wuchha River Mouth in the west to Chuanyun Dikan in Huai'an District in the south, covering an area of 30 square kilometers. Rich in canal culture and local characteristics, it serves as the axis of the city’s cultural development and is a flagship project of Huai'an's water conservancy landscape construction.

Since August 2005, a 30-kilometer stretch of the ancient canal in Huai'an—from Chuzhou to Qingjiangpu—has been approved by the Ministry of Water Resources as a “National Water Conservancy Scenic Area,” characterized by its shimmering waters and willow-lined banks.

The Li Canal is interconnected by large and small bridges. Along its banks are ancient piers, temples, pagodas, bridges, old streets, traditional shops, old factories, and kilns, along with the bustling scenes of the marketplace and the daily life customs of residents—all of which form a uniquely distinctive cultural corridor. Running parallel to or intersecting with the streets, these elements turn Huai'an into a chessboard of waterways. As for its age, it dates back to 486 BC when the warships of King Fuchai of Wu sailed along the Hangou Canal toward the ancient Mokou estuary where it meets the Huai River—a span of twenty-five hundred years. For twenty-five centuries, its sparkling grandeur has never changed.

The waters of the Li Canal are ageless. Most vibrant among them are the dancing seagulls, as serene, playful, and composed as any gulls we might see. They soar freely above the river, now near at hand, now vanishing into the horizon—too quick for the eye to fully take in.

“To observe water, one must watch its surges.” This was a saying by Mencius over two thousand years ago, teaching people how to truly see and understand water.

For millennia, Huai'an has survived and developed amid the blessings and calamities brought by water. A wine tower built during the Northern Song Dynasty was later named Zhenhuai Tower, reflecting not only the importance society—including the imperial court—placed on water management at the time, but also a sense of helplessness about it.

Beyond the canal embankments, the 67-kilometer-long Hongze Lake Dyke, originally an earthen dam, was later entirely rebuilt with stone. Over 60,000 massive stone slabs, each weighing more than a thousand jin (approximately 500 kg), were used. If laid end to end, these stones could stretch all the way from Huai'an to Beijing. The sheer scale of the project speaks for itself.

Throughout human history, water has always been a prerequisite for civilization. The waters of Huai'an have been the very force that shaped Huai'an’s civilization and culture.