[Explanation] In addition to the world-famous Li River, Guilin, Guangxi also has an artificial canal known as the "Pearl of Ancient Water Conservancy Buildings in the World" - Lingqu.

How did the thousand-year-old Lingqu inland become the link of the ancient Maritime Silk Road?

Recently, Chen Xinghua, the former deputy director of the Xing'an County Museum in Guilin City, Guangxi, accepted an exclusive interview with China News Agency's "East and West Questions".

　　[Explanation] Ling Canal was built in 214 BC, with a total length of about 37 kilometers. It is the first mountain cross-ridge canal in human history, because Ling Canal communicates the Xiang River and the Li River, and connects the two major water systems of the Yangtze River and the Pearl River.

On the Maritime Silk Road, Lingqu is like a link connecting the Central Plains and overseas.

　　[Concurrent] Chen Xinghua, former deputy curator of Xing'an County Museum, Guilin City, Guangxi

　　From 1982 to the present, we have found one after another, especially a bottle of Hu figurines in the Tang Dynasty. This Hu figurine is very special. It wears a small three-cornered hat. This is a person from the Sogdian region. Merchants who traveled frequently along the Silk Road.

Hepu (county) in Guangxi is the place where the best pearls are produced. It is entirely possible that the Sogdians transported the pearls from Hepu to the Central Plains, and then shipped the special products of the Central Plains to overseas.

　　Therefore, the discovery of Sogdian figurines on the shore of our Lingqu also confirms that Lingqu not only had overseas connections with the Central Plains during the Qin and Han dynasties, but also that there have been such commercial exchanges and cultural exchanges for a long time for thousands of years. In the process of communication between the Maritime Silk Road and the inland, Lingqu played an active and critical role.

　　[Explanation] There is an ancient and rich farming culture around Lingqu.

The farming culture has benefited the people around Lingqu, and it has also spread overseas through Lingqu.

　　[Concurrent] Chen Xinghua, former deputy curator of Xing'an County Museum, Guilin City, Guangxi

　　The farming culture of Ling Canal is on the passage of the Maritime Silk Road. There are records of Vietnamese envoys passing through Ling Canal. The waterwheels irrigated in Ling Canal and the stones are burned into lime and sprinkled on the fields to multiply the agricultural food. Such records show that the traditional and excellent farming culture on both sides of the Ling Canal has been spread. In their records, Vietnamese envoys have brought our rice seeds and seeds of other crops to their country. This is China's excellence. The contribution of farming culture to human beings in the world.

　　[Explanation] After more than 2,000 years of ups and downs, Ling Canal still plays the role of irrigation, flood discharge, Li River replenishment, tourism, etc. Therefore, it is also called "living heritage" by experts.

　　[Concurrent] Chen Xinghua, former deputy curator of Xing'an County Museum, Guilin City, Guangxi

　　The so-called "living" means that the original heritage still plays its original function and function, so the Lingqu is the same, it still uses the original, original function.

For example, our herringbone dam, our discharge balance, is still in service today.

　　I also mentioned earlier that in the past 2,000 years, the Lingqu water has never caused water damage to the county towns on both sides of the Lingqu.

Why, because there is a water discharge balance, whenever the flood comes, it will discharge the excess water to the Xiangjiang River, which solves the harm of the flood to the county.

Now can we learn from the experience of the ancients like Lingqu?

　　[Explanation] At present, the Ling Canal is still irrigating more than 65,000 mu of farmland on both sides of the strait.

In 2018, Lingqu was included in the World Irrigation Engineering Heritage List, becoming the first "World Irrigation Engineering Heritage" in Guangxi.

(Finish)

　　(Reported by Yang Zongsheng and Zhao Linlu in Guilin, Guangxi)

Responsible editor: [Luo Pan]