Revolutionary landmarks in Henan

A section of the Red Flag Canal. [Photo provided to China Daily]

The Red Flag Canal

The waterway begins at the Zhuohun River in Pingshun county in the northern province of Shanxi and ends in Linzhou, Henan. The main body runs for 70.6 kilometers through the Taihang Mountains, and in total the waterway stretches for about 1,500 km. Construction, undertaken in very difficult conditions, started in February 1960 and lasted until July 1969.

The canal was built to solve serious droughts in Linzhou, where the population has risen from 567,000 in the late 1960s to about 1.2 million today.

Eighty-one people died during the construction process, with the oldest being 63 and the youngest 17, as 22.25 million cubic meters of soil and stone were excavated. After the canal was put into use, the yield per unit of farmland in Linzhou rose nearly fourfold, thanks to the availability of water for irrigation. Locals call it the "life canal" and the "happiness canal".