TheRed Flag Canal (Chinese:红旗渠;pinyin:Hóngqí qú) is anirrigation canal located 80 km (50 mi) northwest ofAnyang in the northern extremity ofHenan,China.
Thecanal begins close to the border ofHenan andShanxi. It diverts water from theZhang River (漳河). The Zhang River flows from Shanxi and becomes the border between Hebei and Henan near toHandan. The dam is located near the corner of the three provinces. The canal winds around the side of a cliff, through 42 tunnels and along the side of theTaihang Mountains. The main canal is 71 km (44 mi) long with many branches to distribute the water.
The canal was initiated during theGreat Leap Forward and was built in the 1960s, with the main channel being completed in 1965. It was dug entirely by hand labour. The main canal is 71 kilometers long. Including the distribution branches, the irrigation system is claimed to have a total length of 1,500 km (930 mi).[1]
It irrigates the fields of theLinzhou district.[2][3]
The Red Flag Canal was considered to be a great achievement of the Chinese workers in the 1960s and was the subject of severalmovies.[4][5] The Red Flag Canal was featured inpropaganda both internal and external to China, as an exemplar of what workers could achieve and local mass initiative.[6][7][8][9]
Linzhou (then called Linxian) and the Red Flag Canal were visited by theItalian film directorMichelangelo Antonioni when he made his documentary filmChung Kuo, Cina about China during the Cultural Revolution in 1972.[10]
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36°21′12″N113°45′34″E / 36.35333°N 113.75944°E /36.35333; 113.75944
