The Grand Canal大运河 · Dàyùnhé — the world's longest artificial waterway
A 2,500-year-old, 1,700-kilometre waterway linking Beijing to Hangzhou — the largest and oldest canal system on earth, dug and re-dug from the 5th century BC to move grain, armies and ideas, and to knit northern and southern China into one.
The waterway that unified China.
The Grand Canal is a vast inland-waterway system running across the north-eastern and central-eastern plains from Beijing in the north to Zhejiang in the south. Built in sections from the 5th century B.C. and joined into a single system under the Sui dynasty, it was the world's largest and most extensive civil-engineering project before the Industrial Revolution.
For over a thousand years it was the spine of the empire — carrying tribute grain from the fertile south to the northern capitals, moving armies and officials, and spreading goods, people and culture. The canal-side cities it enriched, from Yangzhou to Suzhou to Hangzhou, grew wealthy on its traffic.
A living, 1,700 km linear site, not a single monument — you experience it in stretches: a canal town, a lock, a museum, or a night cruise in one of the historic cities along its length.
Where to see the canal.
You meet the canal in its cities. These are the most rewarding stretches for a visitor.
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Gongchen Bridge, Hangzhou 拱宸桥
The southern terminus district — a historic humpback bridge, canal museums and a lantern-lit evening boat along the old waterway.City Hangzhou · Cruise evening boat
Yangzhou old canal 扬州古运河
The salt-merchant city that grew rich on the canal — Slender West Lake, garden mansions and a classic canal-side stroll.City Yangzhou
Pingjiang Road, Suzhou 平江路
A beautifully preserved canal-and-lane quarter of the Grand Canal city, best paired with Suzhou's gardens.City Suzhou
Grand Canal museums 运河博物馆
Modern museums in Hangzhou and Yangzhou tell the canal's 2,500-year engineering and trade story — the best primer.Where Hangzhou / Yangzhou
Spring and autumn, by the water.
March–May and September–November are the most pleasant along the canal cities of the lower Yangtze. Summers are hot and humid; winters cool and damp. Evening is the loveliest time for a canal walk or boat.
Don't look for one 'Grand Canal site' — pick a canal city. It's a 1,700 km living waterway, so the way to experience it is a stretch within a city: an evening cruise and old-quarter walk in Hangzhou, Yangzhou or Suzhou. Combine it with that city's other sights rather than treating the canal as a standalone destination.
For foreign travelers.
- Experience the canal within a city — Hangzhou, Yangzhou or Suzhou — rather than seeking a single site.
- Take an evening boat and walk the historic banks; that's when the canal quarters are at their best.
- Start at a canal museum (Hangzhou or Yangzhou) for the engineering and trade backstory.
- It ties naturally to Suzhou's gardens and West Lake. See our Suzhou gardens guide.