https://www.straitstimes.com/multimedia/graphics/2025/01/china-canal-dream/index.html?shell
GUANGXI -Ever since half his farmland was acquired by the Chinese government in 2022, the well has almost run dry for sugar-cane and rice farmer Zhou Yanxian, 51.
Just like the other 900 households in Qishidong village in China’s southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, his family relies on hand-pumped groundwater to cook, clean and shower.
“Our water supply used to be ample, but recently, they diverted all the water and there’s barely enough water for us to use,” the father of five told The Straits Times.
Farmer Zhou Yanxian, whose home’s floor tiles have buckled while his kitchen roof is leaking, laments that the canal construction has “brought us nothing but headaches”. ST PHOTO: ANG QING
The groundwater is being diverted for the construction of a far bigger water project: a mega-canal that might kick-start China’s third infrastructure boom, which follows the expressway boom after the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the high-speed railway, airport and subway boom after the 2008 global financial crisis.
When built, the 72.7 billion yuan (S$13.6 billion) Pinglu Canal would usher in what the Chinese media has called “the grand canal era”.
It is a nod to its 1,800km-long ancient Grand Canal (or “Da Yun He”), a Unesco World Heritage Site that links Beijing to Hangzhou and served as important transport infrastructure in premodern China. The Grand Canal is still used today for shipping, with some sections spruced up for recreation and tourism.
Pinglu is the first major canal to be built in the People’s Republic of China since its founding in 1949. Stretching 134km, the canal’s construction started in August 2022 and is due to be completed by the end of 2026.
Construction is ongoing at the Pinglu Canal, which will connect Nanning city in the Guangxi region to the ports of Beibu Gulf. VIDEO: PINGLU CANAL GROUP
By cutting across from Nanning to Qinzhou in Guangxi – the only province or region in China connected to Asean by both land and sea – the Pinglu Canal ensures goods to Asean will be transported “in the shortest time, with the best service and at the best price”, declared the region’s chairman Lan Tianli.
Just as the Grand Canal performed the critical function of transporting grains, silk and even messages between north and south China during the early dynasties of the Sui, Tang and Song, the hopes of Chinese officials are that Pinglu will be the start of a new slew of canals that together will be a game changer in boosting the movement of goods, including exports.
The Pinglu project has already inspired other provinces to float proposals for canal infrastructure to the country’s top legislature. Including the Pinglu Canal and a canal in Anhui province built in 2023 as part of a larger water-diversion project, the total investment in these projects is estimated to be more than 850 billion yuan.
The most expensive of them is a 1,988km canal connecting the provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Guangdong estimated to cost 320 billion yuan. The authorities of landlocked Jiangxi have dubbed it the “project of the century”. In October 2024, a Shanghai-listed engineering design firm announced it had been awarded a bid to conduct a pre-feasibility study for a section of this project.
Central provinces Hunan, Hubei and Henan have also pitched canal projects. Henan’s proposal, for instance, plans to connect waterways between three major rivers – Yangtze River, Yellow River and Huai River – and provide direct access to the Yangtze River Delta.
This comes as China aims to build up “significant strength in transportation” by 2035 and become a global transport superpower by 2050. A 2019 masterplan for its transport sector charts plans for the country to be a global leader in rail, shipping and commercial aerospace, among other advanced transport industries.
High-speed trains on stabling tracks in Nanjing city in east China’s Jiangsu province. Rail operator China State Railway Group said on Jan 2, 2025, that the country aims to expand the length of its operating high-speed rail tracks to about 60,000km by 2030, up from 48,000km in 2024. PHOTO: AFP
As part of the push to turn itself into a transport powerhouse, China has also sought to develop a “high-class” inland waterway transport network, which includes expanding navigable waterways through canals. For decades, the development of inland waterways has lagged behind that of modern road and rail networks.
If the various provincial canal plans are approved, they could spark China’s next infrastructure boom. Previously, using infrastructure investment to stimulate the economy proved successful but also led to underutilised or half-built projects when the money ran out.
With the world’s second-largest economy facing economic headwinds and slow growth, some have raised doubts about such massive infrastructure investment in canals.
Professor Lu Dadao, a well-known researcher at the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, wrote in a scathing opinion piece published in August 2024 that the few people who champion the construction of two proposed canal projects in Hunan and Jiangxi provinces failed to consider what these canals would transport and how enormous the projects would be.
Are they aware that the big sum of money that would be spent is committing a sin against the current and future generations?
PROFESSOR LU DADAO, CHINESE RESEARCHER AT THE INSTITUTE OF GEOGRAPHIC AND NATURAL RESOURCES RESEARCH OF THE CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
Guangxi, a less developed region that produces minerals and metals, is banking on the Pinglu Canal to improve the lives of its 50 million people.
Dr Ngeow Chow Bing, director of the Institute of China Studies at the University of Malaya who has researched the Pinglu Canal, noted that Guangxi’s economic performance has been subpar for decades, often relying on its more successful neighbour, Guangdong, for economic opportunities and jobs for its people.
Construction works near the site of Madao Hub on Nov 11, 2024. The hub, also called a lock, is used to raise and lower ships so they can travel on stretches of water of different levels. ST PHOTO: ANG QING
A Qishidong Village resident in his 70s who gave only his surname, Zhou, walks to the edge of his village every day to observe Pinglu Canal’s construction. His pig farm was acquired by the government to make way for the project. ST PHOTO: ANG QING
Construction of the Pinglu Canal is ongoing at Qishidong village. ST PHOTO: ANG QING
When Pinglu Canal is ready to connect Guangxi’s capital Nanning to the region’s ports on Beibu Gulf, Guangxi and its neighbouring provinces will no longer have to depend on Guangdong’s ports to export their goods.
Instead, products can be shipped from Nanning through the canal to Beibu Gulf, also known as the Gulf of Tonkin, in its south.
This is expected to help cut shipping time to ports in Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam.
Pinglu Canal is a key part of a broader trade and logistics project, the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, that aims to ease the transport of goods not only from and to Guangxi, but also the nearby landlocked south-western regions of Yunnan, Guizhou, Chongqing and Sichuan.
Bulky goods such as coal, metal ore and grains will have an additional and more cost-efficient shipping method via the canal, other than the existing road and rail transport, which is more costly, to reach Qinzhou Port on Beibu Gulf, a spokesperson for the state-owned Beibu Gulf Port Group told ST.
Lower transport costs will attract more businesses to use Qinzhou Port as their import-export gateway, said the spokesperson.
Beyond increasing export volume, the canal will attract higher-value goods such as electronic products, precision instruments and speciality agricultural products, added the spokesperson. Qinzhou Port now exports mainly fertilisers, quicklime, soda ash, kaolin, glass, sugar, plywood and lithium batteries.
But analysts have raised doubts about the volume of cargo that might be shipped via Pinglu.
Dr James Wang Jixian, research director of the Bay Area Hong Kong Centre, said the volume of cargo demand cited is hypothetical based on a best-case scenario, with no guarantees that there will be as many ships on the canal as the Guangxi authorities hope.
Cargo ships sailing on the Yangtze River in Wuhan, in China’s central Hubei province, on Dec 22, 2024. The river connects to China’s Grand Canal, the world’s longest constructed waterway. PHOTO: AFP
A spokesperson for Singapore shipping company Pacific International Lines (PIL) said Pinglu Canal could improve its shipping routes and logistics in South China, especially around Guangxi’s two major cities, Nanning and Liuzhou.
PIL has fleets that call at Qinzhou Port, which is a link between China and South-east Asia and is connected to PIL’s global network via Singapore.
China and Asean were each other’s largest trading partner for the fifth consecutive year in 2024, according to China’s General Administration of Customs. Bilateral trade grew 9 per cent year on year, marking nine consecutive years of growth. In the first 11 months of 2024, trade with Asean countries accounted for 15.8 per cent of China’s total foreign trade.
China-Asean trade grew 53% from 2019 to 2024
Asean has also been Guangxi’s largest trading partner for 24 consecutive years, with imports and exports from Asean countries accounting for 48.9 per cent of the Chinese region’s total trade.
The canal is expected to reduce the shipping distance between inland river systems and the sea by 560km, which will in turn lower transport costs.
Chinese state media reported that Pinglu Canal is expected to save more than 5.2 billion yuan in transportation costs annually.
Beyond acting as a logistical link between Guangxi and Asean, Pinglu will also stimulate the economy and social development in Guangxi,said Professor Liu Minkun of Guangxi University’s School of Business.
“It opens up possibilities for new industries to develop and offers employment as the canal needs to be operated and maintained,” said Prof Liu, who has conducted two research visits to the canal.
It’s an opportunity for Guangxi to boost our GDP growth and to make Nanning prosperous as a coastal city.
PROFESSOR LIU MINKUN FROM GUANGXI UNIVERSITY’S SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
While the canal’s benefits are touted as far-reaching, the reality now for residents living along its path is that their homes, roads and even trees are covered in dust.
Large trucks transporting building materials for the construction of Pinglu Canal kicking up clouds of dust, coating vegetation outside Shiqiao village. ST PHOTO: ANG QING
Since 2023, construction of the canal has kicked into high gear, with around-the-clock works planned until the project is completed by end-2026.
Around 339 million cubic m of rocks and dirt – three times what was cleared to build China’s Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest hydroelectric plant – will be excavated for the project.
The canal has uprooted everything in its path, with the local media reporting that six schools were relocated and four bridges demolished.
There is no official record of the number of residents affected, but at least 970 people were resettled in the Hengzhou section of the canal. New homes and schools have been built for affected residents, in towns such as Xingfu and Shaping.
Hengzhou city
A villager who runs a food cart outside Canal Qili Primary School, one of the newly relocated schools, said business was particularly hard in 2024.
In previous years, she earned 200 yuan to 300 yuan daily, but the figure has dropped to less than 200 yuan since the start of 2024, she said.
“I can’t sell my food near any of the sites along the Pinglu Canal as it’s too dusty,” said the 43-year-old stall owner, who wanted to be known only as Ms Li.
Canal Qili Primary School in Shaping town was built for pupils whose previous school was displaced by the construction of Pinglu Canal. ST PHOTO: ANG QING
A villager who wanted to be known as only Ms Li selling snacks and drinks outside the newly built Canal Qili Primary School. ST PHOTO: ANG QING
While the authorities have made efforts to limit the project’s environmental impact, fisherfolk and oyster farmers working near the canal site told ST that it has taken a toll on their harvests.
Mending her nets in Pingtang village, which is located where the canal begins, Madam Lin Hui, 50, who catches fish and prawns in the Xi River, said the development has disrupted river life.
“Once the waters are muddied, there will be no fish, there will be no prawns,” she said.
Fisherwoman Lin Hui cutting string to make prawn nets in Pingtang village. ST PHOTO: ANG QING
A similar picture is painted downstream, where the canal enters Maowei Sea, by oyster farmer Lin Huahuan, who runs an oyster farm in Paibang village.
The 45-year-old said his harvests have plummeted from some 60 racks – which oysters are grown on – to just two racks after works on the canal started. He attributed the decline to changes in the water’s salinity and space required for the canal.
Dredging during the canal’s construction will cause “inevitable losses” to oyster stocks, said the project’s environmental impact assessment released to the public in 2022. It estimated that the project’s construction will cause losses of 100.23 million yuan for the industry.
Oyster farm owner Lin Huahuan (far right) overseeing his employees harvesting oysters. ST PHOTO: ANG QING
Oyster farm employees loading a harvest from the Maowei Sea onto a lorry. ST PHOTO: ANG QING
When asked about his plans when the canal begins operations, Mr Lin replied: “We will just die.”
To mitigate the hardships of villagers affected by the construction, Guangxi University’s Prof Liu said he has proposed to the authorities a plan to incorporate elements of domestic cultural tourism, by way of historical sites and cultural villages, along the canal.
To serve the tourists, residents could offer homestays or open restaurants, said Prof Liu. It is one way to “share the dividends” with affected villagers who bear the brunt of the inconveniences, he added.
The completion of the big milestone project will also be a boost to villagers’ spirits in time to come, he said.
“From the people’s point of view, they will feel that their home town is being valued by the Communist Party of China to have such a big project in their land. In this way, it is heartening for them too, right?” he said.
For some Guangxi natives, the canal offers a reason to return to their home towns after years of making a living in bigger cities.
Construction worker Lai Yihu, 40, who used to work in Guangdong, returned during the Covid-19 pandemic to his home town of Shiqiao village for a job at the canal site, which pays him about 7,000 yuan a month.
Construction worker Lai Yihu attended a wedding in Shiqiao village before starting his night shift at the Pinglu Canal. ST PHOTO: ANG QING
“My home is 15 minutes away, I don’t have to pay rent and all my meals are settled,” said Mr Lai, who has convinced three younger brothers formerly working in Guangdong to join him at the construction site.
At the very least, they’ll be guaranteed a job as long as the canal is still being constructed, he said. “What happens when the canal is completed, we’ll think then.”
As for the canal, it could end up being a white elephant, said University of Malaya’s Dr Ngeow.
“This project bears semblance to the usual investment-driven growth model that China has become addicted to,” said Dr Ngeow, who is also a non-resident scholar at Carnegie China, an East Asia-based research centre.
Aerial view of one section of the Pinglu Canal being constructed in the Guangxi region. PHOTO: PINGLU CANAL GROUP
For local governments, including Guangxi, which are battling crippling debts that some analysts have said are a financial time bomb that could damage China’s banking system, canal-building could be a way out of their predicament.
Bay Area Hong Kong Centre’s Dr Wang said cash-starved local governments could be keen for such massive infrastructure projects within their provinces because it “gives them an excuse to get money from the central government”. About 80 per cent of the cost of such projects is bankrolled by the central government, he said.
“Construction creates jobs and gets the local economy going. In other words, you’re using central government money to generate local GDP (gross domestic product) growth, which is a win for your province,” said Dr Wang, the former head of the Department of Geography at The University of Hong Kong.
Nobody cares if eventually the canal will be profitable or if it’ll be fully utilised. It’s construction for construction’s sake.
DR JAMES WANG JIXIAN, FORMER HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG.
While relying on infrastructure investments to boost the economy is not necessarily a bad move, said Dr Wang, building canals now is something else.
“Expressways, for example, in the 90s were a good decision. They were well used and brought much benefit to the people. Canals, however, are definitely the wrong sector now in 2024,” he said.
Besides the Suez and Panama canals, which are hugely important to global trade by significantly shortening shipping distances by tens of thousands of kilometres, most canals around the world have been overtaken by railways and road networks, he said.
China does not have a geographical environment similar to the Suez and Panama canals, so why are we building more canals?
DR WANG
Spending resources on better integrating existing waterways with rail and road networks would be a better way to meet China’s future trade and economic needs, he said.
Canals, compared with other modes of transport, also require a large amount of manpower and funds upfront to build, are less flexible in their locations and cause more environmental damage, said Dr Wang.
Still, the potential of the canal cannot be underestimated as it will connect Xi River to Beibu Gulf, which has suffered from the lack of a connecting river for a long time, said the University of Malaya’s Dr Ngeow.
Guangxi and inner China will be able to fully utilise the Xi River – the second-longest river in southern China after the Yangtze – which has yet to realise its full capacity, he said.
Dr Yu Hong, senior research fellow at the East Asian Institute of the National University of Singapore, said: “Large-scale infrastructure projects are always bound to attract controversy. When the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge was being built, people said it was a white elephant, but nobody is saying that about it now.”
An aerial view of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, the world's longest sea bridge connecting Hong Kong, Macau and the Chinese mainland, taken a day before its launch on Oct 23, 2018. PHOTO: AFP
Dr Yu said infrastructure development could be a key engine for the Chinese authorities to boost the country’s economy as China seeks to shield and stabilise itself ahead of geopolitical headwinds.
Provinces that had pitched canal projects are closely watching Pinglu Canal, as its success could mean that their projects may be approved.
Guangxi University’s Prof Liu said China’s Grand Canal, which serves as a “living cultural heritage corridor” across the multiple provinces it crosses, offers a peek into what Pinglu Canal could become in the future.
While it fell into disrepair at one point when railways and roads supplanted its uses, the Grand Canal found new life as a recreational site after funds were pumped into sprucing up several sections over the past two decades.
“Canals are stories about civilisation. They are one of the most friendly and effective ways to tell China’s story well,” Prof Liu said.
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