Hongqi Canal

Hongqi Canal, canal and irrigation system in northern Henan province and in Shanxi province, eastern China. The canal was constructed in 1960–69 to irrigate the poor and infertile area of Linxian county (now Linzhou municipality) in the foothills of the Taihang Mountains west of Anyang. To relieve this area’s chronic water scarcity, the canal was constructed for 71 km (44 miles) across the mountains to a large dam on the Zhang River in Shanxi. Construction of the canal was an engineering feat: in places it required cutting the channel into sheer cliff faces and constructing 42 tunnels and many aqueducts, some of considerable length. Since 1965, when the main canal was completed, the area has been linked with a system of drainage channels and reservoirs and with more than 965 km (600 miles) of irrigation canals. The system irrigates some 40,000 hectares (100,000 acres). It supports 14 hydroelectric power stations that supply power to local industries, producing cement, fertilizer, iron, and steel for local use.