Why is there no water in Hongqi Canal?

Hongqi Canal is still open to water. According to local tour guides, people in Linzhou mainly drink and use tap water, while the water in Hongqi Canal is mainly used for irrigation.

Today, the Hongqi Canal has also been transformed into a tourist attraction. Its existence is not only practical, but also a spiritual symbol. It indicates that China people are independent, striving for perfection and conquering nature with tenacious vitality in a difficult and dangerous natural environment. There are many water conservancy facilities.

There is water in the Hongqi Canal now, but it only plays an ornamental role. Symbolically, it has completely lost the original intention of building the red flag for two reasons:

First, the Zhanghe River water at the source of Hongqi Canal has basically dried up due to the drought in recent years, and there is no water to draw.

Second, even in the abundant water period, many water conservancy facilities were built in the later period of Shanxi Province in the upper reaches, so people had to allocate and use the water in the upper reaches first. The current water is only saved under the coordination of the central government, otherwise there is no water at all.

Zhanghe River at the foot of faded Shandong in Shanxi Province is the water source of Hongqi Canal. The upper reaches of Zhanghe River are composed of two tributaries: Qingzhang River and Zhangzhuo River. In the 1960s, Zhang Zhuohe was basically used only by Hongqi Canal.

However, since the late 1960s, three large reservoirs and more than 80 small and medium-sized reservoirs have been built in Shanxi, and Yuejin Canal, Dayuefeng Canal, Xiaoyuefeng Canal and their irrigation areas have been built in Henan and Hebei provinces. Small water diversion projects and hydropower stations are even more difficult to count. Due to the lack of unified planning and management, the contradiction between supply and demand of water resources in Zhanghe River has become increasingly prominent.