Talk:Grand Canal (China)

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This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, now in the public domain.

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[edit] Roman names

Presumably we might as well completely remove the names in their old Romanization forms, and use only pinyin instead. -- Egil 14:16 Apr 24, 2003 (UTC)

There is still some romanization that needs to be coverted into pinyin. I am not familiar with Wade-Giles enough to do this. Please proceed. --Jiang 10:31, 8 Aug 2003 (UTC)

[edit] Chinese characters in English text

Perhaps someone watching this page could help me (a newbie) understand why there is so much Chinese in it. My first reaction is that it's an unreadable paragraph—the kind my eye just skips entirely—as I don't read Chinese. And I notice that there's a handy table on the right which shows all the variants of its Chinese name, so the body text seems not only confusing but redundant. Except for the useful table, doesn't all the Chinese text belong in the Chinese-language entry for this subject? Papayoung 04:33, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

I think the Chinese does not belong in this text at all, because the name uses English words. If it was a transliterated word such as the name of a city, then yes the Chinese words would be useful. 129.31.72.52 20:30, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Reconstruction by Hongwu Emperor?

The article says that the canal was reconstructed between 1411 and 1415 by the Hongwu Emperor. However the article for that Emperor says that he died in 1398. This is inconsistent. Molinari 20:41, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the note. It is indeed an error and has been corrected. It should be the Yongle Emperor not Hongwu Emperor. Heilme 01:19, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Discussion Regarding the Length of the Canal

There appears to be some disagreement over the actual length of the canal; I have removed a brief paragraph appended to the "Measure" section by VBerger because it did not cite its sources, was written in a style inconsistent with the foregoing text, and contained numerous spelling, grammatical, and syntactical errors. Additionally, the reasoning regarding linear distance and airplanes may have been valid, but it violated Wikipedia's policy about original research.

Please improve the paragraph before reversion; I have been unable to locate any sources which independently corroborate its content. Does anyone know of any sources which provide definitive measurements for the canal? Robin Goodfellow 17:11, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Editing

I have modified the history section to make it more consistent. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.174.39.232 (talk • contribs)

[edit] Map request

It is requested that a map or maps be included in this article to improve its quality.
Wikipedians in China may be able to help!

a map of the canal please. Xah Lee 03:32, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Grammar

Good info, but lots of grammatical mistakes. Ohwell32 21:04, 6 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] The "course" section

It seems to me that most of the text in the "course" section comes from an unknown literature, because in that section many names of cities or rivers are not used in the modern China. Based on those names, I guess that the section may be from a western traveller's account in early 1900s. I have updated most of the old names to their current names. Anybody knows where that section come from? Is it legal to use them in wikipedia? If not, I can try to rewrite that section. Sinolonghai 22:13, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Future of the canal

I am a historian and writer recently returned from doing a journey along the entire length of the Grand Canal from Hangzhou to Beijing -I have a vast pile of research on the history and modern state of the canal, and I have given the text a quick housekeeping. Much of the source details (1911 Britannica) of the course were very outdated. There is also room for a "future of the canal" section, what with all the new excavations being done in Jiangnan and north of the Yangtze in preparation for the South-North Water Transfer Project. If nobody objects, I will add more detail as and when I have time. Tomtom08 14:04, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

I like the new photo you added. The future section is a good start too. Sqwerty 01:34, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] NPOV

The article mentions "Liberation in 1949." This is not neutral. Liberation implies enslavement. A more neutral statement would be "the end of the Communist revolution in 1949."Wilkyisdashiznit 06:54, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

Good point - I've changed my original 'Liberation' to a neutral term. Force of habit from spending too much time in China! Tomtom08 15:32, 15 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Expansion

I just made an enormous expansion to this article today, but I have to go for now, because I reserve friday nights for getting drunk. Lol. Hope you like the new sections and additions. Later!--Pericles of Athens^Talk 02:13, 17 November 2007 (UTC)

I think it's amazing. Hadoooookin (talk) 14:31, 17 November 2007 (UTC)

Thanks! It's full of clear and concise information in the history section, but the modern section needs a lot of work.--Pericles of Athens^Talk 18:12, 18 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "furbished"

"Furbish" is not really a word. AnonMoos (talk) 11:03, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

Well, yes it is. Definition of "furbish" --> To restore to attractive or serviceable condition; renovate. However, it is the wrong word in the context of the sentence in the introduction. So, I've replaced it with "fomented" instead.--Pericles of Athens^Talk 22:24, 20 May 2008 (UTC)