South–North Water Transfer Project
The South–North Water Transfer Project, also translated as the South-to-North Water Diversion Project is a multidecade infrastructure mega-project in China that ultimately aims to channel 44.8 cubic kilometers of fresh water each year from the Yangtze River in southern China to the more arid and industrialized north through three canal systems:The Eastern Route through the course of the Grand Canal;
The Central Route from the upper reaches of Han River via the Grand Aqueduct to Beijing and Tianjin;
The Western Route which goes from three tributaries of Yangtze River near the Bayankala Mountain to provinces like Qinghai, Gansu, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia and Ningxia.
South–North Water Transfer Project Central route starting point in Xichuan County, Nanyang, Henan
The Grand Canal is a system of interconnected canals linking various major rivers in North and East China, serving as an important waterborne transport infrastructure between the north and the south during Medieval and premodern China. It is the longest artificial waterway in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The canal in Beijing, by the Wanning Bridge.
The Yongle Emperor (r. 1402–1424) restored the Grand Canal in the Ming era.
Grand Canal. Drawing by William Alexander, draughtsman of the Macartney Embassy to China in 1793.
The Qianlong Emperor's Southern Inspection Tour, Scroll Six: Entering Suzhou along the Grand Canal dated 1770.