water Article Rise and Fall of the Grand Canal in the Ancient Kaifeng City of China: Role of the Grand Canal and Water Supply in Urban and Regional Development Wenji Huang 1, Mingwang Xi 2, Shibao Lu 1,3,* and Farhad Taghizadeh-Hesary 4,* 1 School of Political Science and Public Administration, Neijiang Normal University, Neijiang 641112, China; [email protected] 2 Department of The Commission for Discipline Inspection, Luoyang Normal University, Luoyang 471934, China; [email protected] 3 College of Public Administration, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou 310018, China 4 Social Science Research Institute, Tokai University, Hiratsuka-shi 259-1292, Kanagawa-ken, Japan * Correspondence: [email protected] (S.L.); [email protected] (F.T.-H.) Abstract: In the long history of the feudal society of China, Kaifeng played a vital role. During the Northern Song Dynasty, Kaifeng became a worldwide metropolis. The important reason was that the Grand Canal, which was excavated during the Sui Dynasty, became the main transportation artery for the political and military center of the north and the economic center of the south. Furthermore, Kaifeng was located at the center of the Grand Canal, which made it the capital of the later Northern Song Dynasty. The Northern Song Dynasty was called “the canal-centered era.” The development of Citation: Huang, W.; Xi, M.; Lu, S.; the canal caused a series of major changes in the society of the Northern Song Dynasty that were Taghizadeh-Hesary, F. Rise and Fall of different from the previous ones, which directly led to the transportation revolution, and in turn, the Grand Canal in the Ancient promoted the commercial revolution and the urbanization of Kaifeng. The development of commerce Kaifeng City of China: Role of contributed to the agricultural and money revolutions. After the Northern Song Dynasty, the political the Grand Canal and Water Supply center moved to the south. During the Yuan Dynasty, the excavation of the Grand Canal made it so in Urban and Regional Development. that water transport did not have to pass through the Central Plains. The relocation of the political Water 2021, 13, 1932. https:// center and the change in the canal route made Kaifeng lose the value of connecting the north and doi.org/10.3390/w13141932 south, resulting in the long-time fall of the Bianhe River. Kaifeng, which had prospered for more than 100 years, declined gradually, and by the end of the Qing Dynasty, it became a common town Academic Editors: in the Central Plains. In ancient China, the rise and fall of cities and regions were closely related to Vasileios Tzanakakis, Giovanni De Feo and Andreas N. Angelakis the canal, and the relationship between Kaifeng and the Grand Canal was typical. The history may provide some inspiration for the increasingly severe urban and regional sustainable development Received: 13 June 2021 issues in contemporary times. Accepted: 2 July 2021 Published: 13 July 2021 Keywords: Grand Canal; Kaifeng; water supply; sustainable development; city and regional devel- opment Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. 1. Introduction The evolution of the regional ecological environment is closely related to human civilization. China, India, Egypt, and Babylon (now Iraq) originated from the Yellow River, Ganges River, Nile River, and the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers, respectively. Further- Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. more, human civilization declined with the exhaustion of rivers; for example, the decline of Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. ancient Egyptian civilization was closely related to the decline of the Nile River, and the cut- This article is an open access article ting off of the Kongque River caused the extinction of the Loulan ancient country in China. distributed under the terms and If natural rivers are the cradle of human civilization, canals (or artificial waterways) conditions of the Creative Commons are the masterpieces of human civilization. Irrigation in Egypt started between 3218 BC Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// and 3035 BC. Early Egyptians relied on river water for natural irrigation. However, due creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ to the arid climate in most of Egypt and the growing population, natural irrigation from 4.0/). Water 2021, 13, 1932. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13141932 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/water Water 2021, 13, x FOR PEER REVIEW 2 of 22 Water 2021, 13, 1932 2 of 21 and 3035 BC. Early Egyptians relied on river water for natural irrigation. However, due to the arid climate in most of Egypt and the growing population, natural irrigation from riverriver waterwater alonealone waswas hardhard toto continue.continue. AncientAncient EgyptiansEgyptians exploredexplored thethe useuse ofof thethe NileNile RiverRiver forfor artificialartificial irrigationirrigation stepstep byby step,step, includingincluding partialpartial basinbasin irrigationirrigation andand irrigationirrigation networknetwork systems, to to manage manage irrigation irrigation water water [1,2]. [1,2 The]. The Egyptian Egyptian canal canal culture culture began began dur- duringing the thereign reign of King of King Scorpion Scorpion (approximately (approximately 2725–2671 2725–2671 BC) BC) [3]. [ 3]. TheThe southernsouthern region region of of Mesopotamia, Mesopotamia, which which is southernis southern Iraq Iraq now, no hadw, had a close a close relation- rela- shiptionship with with the history the history of water of water systems systems (2475–2315 (2475–2315 BC), which BC), includedwhich included artificial artificial waterways, wa- irrigationterways, irrigation projects, swamps, projects, and swamps, dams and (Wilkinson; dams (Wilkinson; 2013) [4,5], 2013) as shown [4,5], in as Figure shown1. in During Figure Sargon’s1. During reign Sargon’s (2350–2150 reign (2350–2150 BC), the Sumerians BC), the Sumerians and Akkadians and Akkadians built a complex built a networkcomplex ofnetwork canals. of In canals. order toIn protectorder to themselves protect themselves from the from periodic the floodsperiodic of floods the Tigris of the and Tigris Eu- phrates,and Euphrates, the Sumerians the Sumerians continued continued to dredge to thedredge silt causedthe silt bycaused the two by the rivers two every rivers year every to maintainyear to maintain the canal the [6 ].canal [6]. FigureFigure 1.1. MapMap ofof southernsouthern Iraq,Iraq, showingshowing ancientancient sitessites andand channels,channels, alongalong withwith majormajor ancient ancient cities. cit- Allies.information All information are taken are taken from from [4]. [4]. LikeLike manymany otherother placesplaces inin thethe world,world, IndianIndian civilizationcivilization flourishedflourished aroundaround riversrivers andand deltas.deltas. TheThe riverriver isis stillstill anan eternaleternal symbolsymbol ofof nationalnational culture.culture. ShawShaw etet al.al. (2007)(2007) believedbelieved thatthat thethe developmentdevelopment ofof advancedadvanced irrigationirrigation systemssystems inin ancientancient IndiaIndia ledled toto complexcomplex citycity societiessocieties andand centers.centers. TheThe IndusIndus ValleyValley CivilizationCivilization ComplexComplex (3000–1500(3000–1500 BC)BC) waswas veryvery prominentprominent inin waterwater conservancyconservancy projectsprojects [7[7],], asas shownshown in in Figure Figure2 .2. In the Western Hemisphere, a kind of indigenous civilization, the Norte Chico civi- lization, flourished from 3000 BC to 1800 BC. This civilization was mainly composed of four valleys, namely, the Supe, Pativilka, Fortaleza, and Huaura Rivers, in the coastal areas of central and northern Peru; all these valleys share a common coastal plain known as Multipotamia. As early as 3000 BC, there were already very advanced urban centers in Multipotamia. Therefore, Sumeria may have been the only place with a similar degree of urban complexity to that of the city of Multipotamia [8]. From the above cases, we can conclude that cities are the center of human’s social, eco- nomic, and cultural activities and revolutions, and maintaining the healthy and sustainable development and prosperity of cities is an important guarantee for the social and economic sustainable development of a country or region. Water resources play an important role in the rise and fall of cities and regions in the world: developed transportation and perfect water conservancy can promote the development and prosperity of a city and a region; in contrast, the loss of transportation hub status and the destruction of water conservancy facilities often lead to the decline of cities and regions. Water 2021, 13, 1932 3 of 21 Water 2021, 13, x FOR PEER REVIEW 3 of 22 FigureFigure 2.2. TheThe geographical geographical extent extent of of the the Indus Indus valley valley civilization civilization (source: (source: https://commons.wiki- https://commons. wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Indus_Valley_Civilization,_Mature_Phase_(2600-1900_BCE).pngmedia.org/wiki/File:Indus_Valley_Civilization,_Mature_Phase_(2600-1900_BCE).png; accessed; accessed on on7 July 7 July 2021). 2021). ChinaIn the Western is a large Hemisphere, country, and a there kind have of indige beennous many civilization, river systems the inNorte the middleChico civili- and easternzation, partsflourished of China from since 3000 time BC immemorial. to 1800 BC. This The civilization Grand Canal was of Chinamainly was composed dug as early of four as 486valleys, BC. Before