A view along the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal—Beijing Canal Bank

The ancient Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal was very prosperous for a time. Nowadays, the Grand Canal is more used as a tourist attraction, quietly telling the world about China’s ancient canal culture. Below, the editor tells it one by one according to the canal segments. The unforgettable scenery along the ancient Grand Canal. This issue is about the second level: the Northern Canal.

The North Canal, one of the tributaries of the Haihe River, its main trunk from Youzhou District to Tianjin is also the northern section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. In ancient times, it was called Baihe, Gushui and Luhe. Its upper reaches is the Wenyu River, which originates from the southern foot of Jundu Mountain, runs from northwest to southeast, and ends at Tongzhou Beiguan where it joins the Tonghui River and is called the North Canal. Originated from the Changping District and Haidian District of Beijing. It flows southward into Tongzhou District and is called Wenyu River in the upper reaches of Beiguan in Tongzhou District. Then it flows through Xianghe County, Hebei Province, Wuqing District, Tianjin City, and joins the Haihe River at Dahongqiao, Tianjin City. Before the Qing Dynasty, the Beiyun Canal was an important river section for north-south water transportation and was very prosperous for a time. After the water transportation stopped, as an important part of the main stream of the Haihe River, it assumed the tasks of flood control and water diversion from Luanhe River.

There are also many unforgettable scenic spots along the North Canal. Here is a brief inventory of a few from north to south:

1. Tongzhou Canal Park

This park is A large-scale green ecological park based on the expansion and reconstruction of the Canal Cultural Plaza, the Canal Olympic Sports Park, and the Ecological Park is a comprehensive place integrating leisure, entertainment, education, sports competitions and fitness, and water tourism. It is also a JD.com The largest city park in the region.

Tongzhou Canal Park starts from the southern end of Beiyun Yuanshui Island in the north, to the Sixth Ring Road in the south, from Binhe West Road in the west, to the North Canal flood control embankment in the east. The planned total length of the entire line is 4,600 meters, 600-800 meters wide, with a total area of ??3.68 million square meters, of which the water surface accounts for 920,000 square meters, and the greening rate reaches 95%; the first phase of construction was completed from November 1, 2004 to May 2007. The landscape renovation area exceeds 1 million square meters.

Cultural Plaza

Pier 1 is located in the Tongzhou Canal Cultural Plaza. The Canal Cultural Plaza was completed in 2006 and covers an area of ??138,000 square meters. The central axis of the square is the Millennium Trail, which is engraved with a huge stone sculpture with a total length of 226 meters, all made of 15 cm thick granite and inlaid with bronze. The Millennium Trail takes the historical era as the main line and selects the 14 most important events in the history of the Grand Canal to intuitively and vividly display the historical features of the canal. The "Oriental" theme sculpture in the square was designed by the famous art master Mr. Han Meilin. The total height is 32 meters and the total weight is 260 tons. The entire sculpture consists of a giant dragon and three unicorns. The dragon is 10 meters high and the unicorn is 3.5 meters high. , the sculpture is made of cast bronze and granite. The sculpture is located at the northern end of the thousand-mile Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, expressing auspiciousness and ascension.

Pier 1

Pier 1 of Tongzhou Canal is the northern head of the thousand-mile Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. Wenyu River, Tonghui River, Yunchaojia River and Xiaozhong River merge into the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal here, forming a spectacular scene of the confluence of five rivers at the northern source of the Grand Canal. You can have a panoramic view of the newly built seven-hole stone arch bridge-type barrage at the mouth of the Grand Canal, the rebuilt grain inspection building after being lost for a hundred years, and the ancient Randen Pagoda that has stood for thousands of years. In 2006, the Tongzhou Canal Cultural Landscape Belt was listed as one of the six cultural scenic spots for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The Beijing Summer Olympics torch and the Winter Olympics torch carried out the only water relay in Beijing here.

Randeng Dengta

"Randeng Dengta contains the relics of the Randeng Buddha, so it is also called the Randeng Buddha Relic Pagoda. The pagoda was first built in the Liao Dynasty, and was used in the Yuan, Ming, Qing and It has been repaired after the Tangshan earthquake. It is a dense-eaves octagonal thirteen-story brick and wood structure solid tower. It is composed of three parts: base, body and roof. It has a total height of 56 meters and a base circumference of 38.4 meters. It is the tallest and largest in Beijing. The tower is the first tower on the bank of the Grand Canal. The legend about the tower has a long history and is colorful. As a prominent symbol of the northern section of the Grand Canal, the "Ancient Pagoda Lingyun" was named the first of the eight scenic spots in Tongzhou in the Ming Dynasty. p>

2. Urban Green Heart Forest Park

Urban Green Heart Forest Park is an open park without walls located in Beijing. It opened on September 29, 2020. The park has five tourist service centers and three tourist stations, which provide tourists with services such as inquiry guides, radio explanations, and immediate handling of complaints. It also launched the Urban Green Heart Forest Park APP to provide tourists with park tour guides and transportation. Guides, tours, taxis and other services.

Green Heart builds a green leisure space with 4 rows of ash and 2 rows of ginkgo planted in sequence along the 5.5-kilometer-long dynamic and active loop, with a total of 6,000 tall colorful leaves. In autumn, a golden star-shaped landscape avenue will be formed, and the loop will be composed of an 8-meter-wide cycling path and a 3-meter-wide walking path.

The green heart will be through rain gardens, landscape lakes, old canals, and grass planting ditches. Complete the transmission and collection of rainwater and realize the landscape utilization of rainwater.

3. Xigu Park

Xigu Park was built in 1958 in the northwest of Tianjin City, on the east side of the North Canal. Opened in 1959, it covers an area of ??31.77 hectares, including 6.67 hectares of water surface. The whole garden is based on natural scenery. There are lush plants in the garden and a wide variety of plants. There are six plant viewing areas such as crabapple, crape myrtle, and rose, as well as ginkgo, metasequoia, etc. A rare treasure. The meandering ribbon lake adds to the beauty of the park against the backdrop of unique bridges.

Gudao Mountain is surrounded by water and connected to the outside by bridges. It is very quiet. There is an activity center for veteran cadres and a market for flowers, birds, fish and insects in the park. The history of Xigu Park is not long, but Xigu existed as early as the 19th century, and it is picturesque and beautiful. Mr. Zhou Ruchang once recorded in a poem: "The shadow of the sails and the sound of the bells are seventy-two dollars, and the peach embankments and willows are difficult to draw. The scenery of Jinmen is really priceless, and it is not as good as seeing it all over the world."

The park was built in 1985. It is divided into Peach Blossom, Peach Poetry and Beiyang. It has the "Imperial Pier" where Emperor Qianlong came to visit, the Yingbin Pavilion, the Five Dragon Wall, the Peach Stele Forest, the Mountain Gate, the Cloister, Pavilions, waterside pavilions, etc. This year, the Hongqiao District People's Government held the Peach Blossom Festival, which has been held for more than 20 times so far. There are flowers in the garden in three seasons, evergreen all year round, and the flowers are colorful and colorful; the tall and densely planted trees block out the sky and the sun, and the evergreen shrubs, magnolia forests, and fruit trees are dotted among them. Walking in the garden is like walking in an "old forest deep in the mountains"; five steps Every step is green, every step is green, refreshing. Quiet forest paths, novel and unique flower stands, verandahs, pavilions, waterside pavilions, and sparkling lakes are full of natural wildness.

4. Tianjin Eye Ferris Wheel

Tianjin Eye (The Tientsin Eye), full name is Tianjin Yongle Bridge Tientsin Eye (The Yongle Bridge Tientsin Eye), across the Haihe River (North Canal) Henan Canal ***) connects Hebei District and Hongqiao District. It is a ferris wheel built across the river and integrated with a bridge and wheel. It has both sightseeing and transportation functions. The Eye of Tianjin is the only Ferris wheel in the world with a view from a bridge and is one of the landmarks of Tianjin.

The diameter of the Ferris wheel is 110 meters. There are 48 360-degree transparent cabins mounted on the outside of the wheel. Each cabin can accommodate 8 people and can accommodate 384 people for sightseeing at the same time. It takes 28 minutes for the Ferris wheel to rotate once. When it reaches the highest point, the surrounding scenery is unobstructed, and you can even see the scenery within a radius of 40 kilometers. It is known as the "Eye of Tianjin".

The next issue will introduce the scenic spots along the South Canal section. Readers are welcome to recommend [呲ya]