Historians are unsure who started work on the Grand Canal. It could be that, much like the Great Wall, several governments in different eras worked on projects that eventually became known as the Grand Canal. Either way, most date it to the Sui dynasty of the sixth century B.C.E. Work continued until the Mongol Yuan dynasty of the 13th to 14th centuries.
The Grand Canal has served several purposes over time--redirecting the Chang Jiang, or Yangtze, to supply water northward, transportation of goods and troop movement in times of war.
The finished canal traces a route of over 1,200 miles from suburban Beijing to the edge of Hangzhou in Zhejiang province, passing major cities such as Tianjin, Cangzhou, Xuzhou and Suzhou, which is also known as China's Venice.
The modern canal has little importance as a shipping route, having been supplanted by trucking. However, it is a major tourist attraction and continues to hold the title of the longest canal system in the world. Tour boats routinely go up and down its length.
Despite the efforts of many governments, from the Qing dynasty in the 19th century to the People's Republic of China in the 1950s, parts of the Great Canal were hard to navigate until recently due to silt and flood damage. Modern technology has largely eliminated this obstacle.
In 2008, several municipalities and provinces in China submitted an application to have the canal added to UNESCO's World Heritage Site list. The canal sections in question were grouped into one application, which remains on the tentative approval list. A decision is expected by 2014.
