Waterway that helped villages and towns bond

The Grand Canal runs through 18 cities from Beijing to Hangzhou, linking five of China’s main river basins. In Zhejiang Province, only two cities nestle along it — Jiaxing and terminal point Hangzhou.

Jiaxing, between Shanghai and Hangzhou, is a third-tier city less well-known than its neighbors. However, it has been called “one of China’s top 20 cities for retirees,” due to its slower pace of life and low living costs.

The 111-kilometer section of the canal in Jiaxing connects with crisscrossed watercourses in the area and is an artery between Qiantang River, Zhejiang Province’s mother river, and Taihu Lake, one of China’s largest freshwater lakes.

According to archives, the earliest segment in Jiaxing could date to the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC). Thereafter, a couple of canals were dug during the Qin (221-206 BC) and Han (206 BC-AD 220) dynasties.

In the Sui Dynasty (AD 581-618), these canals were dredged and then linked up as a section of the Grand Canal. Villages and towns started to bond together through the channel. Importantly, it broke the city’s isolated location and laid solid foundations for its status as a transport hub.

As Jiaxing’s mother river, the canal still works in aspects of irrigation, transport and water delivery. In history, it not only accelerated the city’s development, but also enriched cultural heritage.

When the Grand Canal was included as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2014, two relics along the Jiaxing section were listed as heritage spots, namely Changhong Bridge and Chang’an Floodgate.

Changhong means “long rainbow” in Chinese and was so named because the shape resembles a rainbow. The bridge