Beginning in 584 CE in the north and expanded between 605 CE and 609 CE, the canal crossed the countryside from north to south. It involved the labour of up to 5 million conscripts, men and women. The largest manmade waterway in history, the canal would be a major factor in joining the north and south. It also accelerated the shift in the economy and population from the traditional heartland of the Yellow River to the Yangtze valley and the south, linking their river systems, which would be such an important feature of China’s economic and social history during the next three centuries.
