TheZhengguo Canal,Zhengguoqu orChengkuo Canal (simplified Chinese:郑国渠;traditional Chinese:鄭國渠;pinyin:Zhèng Guó Qú), named after its designer,Zheng Guo, is a large canal located inShaanxi province,China. The canal irrigates theGuanzhong plain, north ofXi'an. Together with theDujiangyan Irrigation System andLingqu Canal, it is one of the three biggestwater conservation projects built before theQin dynasty in ancient China.^[1] The canal connects theJing river andLuo river, northern tributaries of theWei River.

HistorianSima Qian in hisRecords of the Grand Historian wrote of the Zhengguo Canal:

ButHan heard thatQin was fond of embarking on enterprises, so with the intention of causing its energies to be dissipated and in order to prevent it from making an attack to the east, it accordingly dispatched a water engineer namedZheng Guo to give controversial advice to Qin by making it excavate a canal from theJing River west of Mount Zhong as far as Hukou, from where it was to go east along the Northern Mountains and flow into the Luo. It would be more than 300li long, and the intention would be to use it to irrigate the fields. When it was half completed the true purpose was realized, and Qin intended to kill Zheng Guo, but Zheng Guo said: "At first I was acting in order to cause dissension, but when the canal is completed it will surely be a benefit to Qin." Qin thought this was true, so in the end had the progress on the canal continued. When the canal did make further progress, it was used to cause the stagnant waters to flow, and irrigate the salty land over an area of more than 40,000 qing, so that the harvest totaled one zhong per mou. Thereupon the area within the passes was turned into fertile but uncultivated land, and there were no calamitous years, and thus Qin became rich and strong, and in the end unified the feudal states. Because of this it was called the Zheng Guo Canal.

The plan to drain the resources of the State ofQin back-fired as Qin successfully completed the canal, which irrigated 27,000 km² (10,000 sq mi) of additional agricultural land, providing the kingdom with sufficient resources to increase the size of its already massive armies. To this day the land surrounding the Zhengguo Canal is extremely fertile.^[3]The Jingshui River flows slowly and is heavy with sand, so the canal was frequently blocked. By the time of the Han dynasty, much of the canal had silted up and only a small section was still flowing. Under the supervision of engineer Bai Gong, a new canal was cut in 95 BC for irrigation. For the next 2000 years, restructuring the canal's feeder mouth became routine as builtup silt gradually diminished the efficiency of the system.^[3]

• History of canals in China
• Dujiangyan Irrigation System
• Lingqu Canal
• Grand Canal of China

34°35′09″N108°46′33″E / 34.58583°N 108.77583°E /34.58583; 108.77583

• Canals in China
• Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Shaanxi
• Qin (state)
• Yellow River management
• Qin dynasty architecture

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