Sail up the Wusung. — Chinese Canals. 479 



Tlie cliaimcl, 200 or 300 fathoms wide, wliicli unites the 

 Wusung with the internal network of small rivers, is called the 

 Wuang-Po, a designation which some authorities assume to 

 be the name of its constructor, while others maintain tliat it 

 is derived from tvong^ yellow, and applies to the colour of the 

 water, just as Wliam-poa, near Canton, signifies the yellow 

 anchorage. Nothing has so much contributed to that im- 

 mense activity of commerce, which we marvel at among the 

 Chinese, as their vast canal system, tlie introduction of which 

 was pursued with such energy in the 7th century.* The 

 innumerable artificial canals, with which the whole north of 

 China is intersected, and which by their admirably planned 

 system of arrangement unite all the lakes and navigable rivers 

 of the Empire with each other, make it jDOSsible to voyage 

 through every province of the Empire without having once 

 to leave the boat. They atone for the great want of good 

 roads, and even make the absence of rail-roads less percepti- 

 ble in a country where the value of labour is so unprece- 

 dentedly low. 



As soon as we leave Shanghai behind, with its immense 



* Under the Emperor Yang-ti of the Tsin dynasty, which filled the throne during 

 the 6th century, more than 1600 miles of canals were partly constructed, partly re- 

 built and repaired, the immense works being distributed among the soldiery and the 

 inhabitants of the cities and villages. Each family was bound to furnish one man, 

 between the ages of 15 and 20, whom the Government only found in provisions. The 

 soldiers, on whom devolved the heaviest portion of the work, received higher pay. 

 Some of these canals, which were the making of the commerce of the interior, and 

 thus were of the utmost service to the welfare of the Empire, were forty feet wide, 

 and were planted on either bank with elms and willows. 



