Ancient Bian River

Ancient Bian River

In the Sui Dynasty, the ancient Bian River was divided into the Northern Bian and the Southern Bian. The Northern Bian River, due to multiple breaches of the Yellow River, had lost its navigability by the Sui period. The ancient Bian River in Sihong is part of the Southern Bian River and also its lower reaches. It was also known as the Tongji Canal, Bian Shui, or Bian Qu.

Emperor Yang of Sui placed great emphasis on transportation, especially water transport. To connect north-south transit and address the country’s “grain transport,” he decided to open the Tongji Canal of the Grand Canal. In 605, Emperor Yang conscripted “over a million civilians from various commanderies in Henan and northern Huai” to construct the Tongji Canal. Starting from the north of present-day Xingyang County in Henan, where water from the Yellow River was diverted to flow southeast, it passed through Kaifeng, Shangqiu, Xiayi, and then through present-day Suzhou and Si County in Anhui, Sihong in Jiangsu, eventually entering the Huai River and Hongze Lake in the territory of Xuyi County. Due to the large labor force involved, it was largely completed in just half a year.

After the Bian River became navigable, Emperor Yang was delighted and wanted to travel by boat to Yangzhou for leisure. He ordered the construction of a “dragon boat forty-five feet high” for his use, selected 1,800 women as “palace rowers” (i.e., haulers), and brought along the empress, the ladies of the Sixteen Palaces, 3,000 beauties, numerous concubines, and some ministers, along with an entourage of hundreds of thousands, creating an imposing and magnificent procession. It was late spring, the weather was beginning to warm up, and not long after departure, the women hauling the boats were sweating with flushed faces and panting softly. Moved with compassion, Emperor Yang summoned his ministers to devise a solution. Someone suggested planting willows along both banks of the river—this would provide shade and help reinforce the embankments. The emperor immediately issued an edict to plant trees. Soon, vast numbers of willows were planted along both sides of the Bian River, forming an endless green corridor. The emperor, recognizing the willows’ “meritorious service in protecting him,” later granted them the imperial surname “Yang,” and henceforth they came to be known as “Yangliu” (willows). Today, in the lower reaches of the Bian River in Sihong, there are still groves of willows that echo the legacy of the Sui and Tang dynasties.

The opening of the Tongji Canal connected several major rivers in China, such as the Yellow River, the Huai River, and the Yangtze River, playing a significant role in stabilizing and prospering the Sui regime. Thus, the ancient Bian River became one of the main transportation hubs for several hundred years after the Sui and Tang dynasties—"the nation’s grain transport relied on this single canal."

The connection of the Bian River also brought prosperity to the market towns along its banks, including the rise of the ancient Qingyang Town in the lower reaches of the Bian River in Sihong. However, because the water was drawn from the Yellow River—which has a high sediment load—the river suffered from silt accumulation and deposits. Coupled with years of warfare and chaos, with no one to dredge the river, the ancient Bian River gradually became silted up, shrank, and dried up.

By the early Qing Dynasty, the once-glorious ancient Bian River was almost entirely silted over, reduced to nearly flat land. Only this section in Sihong County (from east of Qingyang Town to Hongze Lake, over 30 li in length) remained as a historical witness, still able to flow and be navigated normally to this day.

To ensure the smooth navigation of the ancient Bian River and maintain its clear waters, after the liberation, the people of Sihong dredged the ancient Bian River several times. As a result, up until the late 1970s and early 1980s, residents along the river still used its water to wash rice, do laundry, and even for drinking. However, due to severe environmental pollution later on, the once crystal-clear, fish-filled Bian River became, for over ten years, a dark, filthy, foul-smelling dead waterway devoid of aquatic life. The people of Sihong were deeply saddened. From the winter of 2001 to the spring of 2002, the People’s Government of Sihong County made a firm decision to implement the “Clear Water Project.” They invested heavily to thoroughly dredge the ancient Bian River in the Qingyang Town section once again and built stone retaining walls along both banks spanning several kilometers. Finally, the ancient Bian River regained its vitality. Now, the banks of the Bian River have become a leisure space for the people of Sihong. During holidays, anglers line up along the riverbanks, creating a scenic sight that has become a hallmark of Sihong.