Red Flag Canal, the Great Wall of Water in China

Built on the side of cliffs of the Taihang Mountains, the Red Flag Canal is located at the border of Shanxi, Hebei, and Henan provinces, 50 kilometers from Anyang City. The construction of the canal was intended to take water from the Zhang River and divert it though the Taihang Mountains. It has dramatically changed the life of local people by bringing water to the region.

The area was extremely dry with unpredictable rainfall due to its geographical conditions. In the 514 years from 1436 to 1949, local people suffered from more than 100 droughts. 1650 people starved to death which is 4.3‰ of the total population in Linzhou at that time.

The Red Flag Canal was started to build in the 1960s and was completed in 10 years. It was dug entirely by hand labor and using only simple tools. The total length of the water conservancy construction is more than 1,500 kilometers long with a 70.6-kilometer-long main canal and many branches to distribute water. The accomplishment of the Red Flag Canal irrigated 36,000 hectares of land and solved water supply difficulties to some 567,000 people.

Nowadays, some parts of the Red Flag Canal open to tourists. The mains attractions include Red Flag Canal Museum, Youth Cave, and Buyun Bridge.

Red Flag Canal Museum

Some cultural relics related to the building of Red Flag Canal are displayed in the museum, including 210 precious historic photos. Different sections of the museum tell the story of the canal's construction through a selection of model individuals who demonstrated various aspects of the Red Flag Canal spirit.

The Red Flag Canal Museum is built alongside a large branch of the canal at a point where it is diverted into smaller canals—so visitors move alongside and cross over the canal while visiting the museum.

Red Flag Canal Scenic Area

Youth Cave sums up the essence of this grand water engineering project, against a background of stunning natural scenery. Carved out of a cliff in the mountainside, it is 616 meters long, 5 meters high, and 6.2 meters wide, the longest tunnel of the entire canal.

Suspended in the air and stretching between two mountains, Buyun Bridge looks soft and sophisticated. You will feel tiny when you walk on the bridge surrounded by the giant mountains.

On the east side of the mountain, there is a winding and narrow waterway suspended high in the air. Walking by the water, you can feast your eyes on the splendid natural scenery.