The Collection of Biographies of Famous Chinese and Foreign Rivers is neither a history book nor a geography book in the usual sense, nor is it a travel guide. Instead, it takes famous rivers in China and abroad as its subjects and, from an interdisciplinary perspective, systematically presents their living histories. Throughout history, rivers have been universally and profoundly connected with human development. To know and understand them anew is also to gain a fresh understanding of humanity's own history.
China's canals, taken together, are longer than the Panama Canal, Kiel Canal, Suez Canal, Rhine-Main-Danube Canal, South Canal, and Erie Canal. They are more than 400 kilometers longer than the Turkmen Canal, known as the "King of Canals," making them the undisputed world's greatest canal system. The Biography of China's Canals gazes upon the dramatic rises and falls of China's canals, listens to their joys and sorrows, and conveys their grandeur and beauty. It is a comprehensive historical record of the canals' construction, development, and transformation; a vivid account of the creation and refinement of canal culture, told from a broad perspective; and a multidimensional portrait of the canals' sweeping magnificence.
The first installment of the Collection of Biographies of Rivers in China and Abroad comprises three volumes: Biography of the Yangtze River, Biography of the Yellow River, and Biography of the Canals. Biography of the Canals is planned to be divided into several sections: "The Source of the Canals," "Great Rivers in Full Flow," "The Foundation of the Nation," "A Sudden Arrival," "The Years of Prosperity," "Gradually Receding into the Distance," and "A Thousand Miles of Truth."
About the Authors
Cai Guilin holds a master's degree in literature and graduated from the Chinese Department of Central China Normal University. His works include Contemporary Reflections on Literature and Yanhuang's Heavenly Dream: A Documentary History of 40 Years of China's Space Program. He has received the Fifth China Contemporary Literature Criticism Award for Outstanding Achievement, the 2004 China News Award, and the 2004 Outstanding Work Award from PLA Literature and Art, among other honors. Han Jianmin is a professor with a doctorate in science and earned his Ph.D. in the History of Science at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. His works include A General History of Chinese Science and Technology and Research on Scientific Book Publishing in the Late Qing Dynasty.
This book takes rivers as the "biographer" and interprets the history of China's canals from a completely new perspective. It is like a picture scroll, showing the excavation, development and evolution of the canal, which made me feel the majesty of China's canal culture. This reminds me of "History of the Yangtze River" and "History of the Yellow River". They are both good books about the history of Chinese rivers, as wonderful as "The World is on the River: The History of China's Canals". For those who like history and culture, this book is definitely worth reading.
This book takes rivers as the "biographer" and interprets the history of China's canals from a completely new perspective. It is like a picture scroll, showing the excavation, development and evolution of the canal, which made me feel the majesty of China's canal culture. This reminds me of "History of the Yangtze River" and "History of the Yellow River". They are both good books about the history of Chinese rivers, as wonderful as "The World is on the River: The History of China's Canals". For those who like history and culture, this book is definitely worth reading.