| The convenient transportation is the primary condition of urban development. According to history of the city's development in our country, the most of cities were developed along rivers. Water transport has such advantages as large transport capacity; economic cost and high transport efficiency (because these were many rivers in southern district in ancient, water transport were faster than overland freight). At first, natural rivers were utilized for transportation and irrigation by people in ancient China. Later, numerous canals were dredged to link several independent water systems together. Developed traffic network promoted exchanges and communication between different regions, and provided water resources. Hangzhou and canals in and out of the city are studied in this paper, focusing on the important roles of canals in the development of Hangzhou in the process.Methods of the analysis of the historical geographical documents and investigation are used in the paper. Through discussing the vicissitude of the watercourse in and out of Hangzhou, the development of city form and the evolution of urban function, roles which canals played in the development of Hangzhou are illustrated.The analysis indicates following, (1) The Qiantang River was the initial motive force of pushing forward the development of Hangzhou, before the Grand Canal was dug in the Sui Dynasty; (2) The Grand Canal promoted urban economic development of Hangzhou, so the city began to achieve actual development in the Sui Dynasty; (3) Roles which canals played were significant during the South Song Dynasty; (4) The navigation function of the canal had declined and other traffic tools had been used from the later Yuan Dynasty to the early 1980s. The effect that canals made were weaken gradually.As other functions of the canal are deeply realized, the waterway should play an important role on pushing forward the City's development and making the city image prefect in the 21st Century. |
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