North Jiangsu Main Irrigation Canal

North Jiangsu Main Irrigation Canal
Specifications
Length	104.4 miles (168.0 km)
Geography
Start point	Hongze Lake
End point	East China Sea

The North Jiangsu Main Irrigation Canal (simplified Chinese: 苏北灌溉总渠; traditional Chinese: 蘇北灌溉總渠; pinyin: Sūběi Guàngài Zǒng Qú) (often called the Subei Canal) is located in the lower reaches of the Huai River, one of the major rivers in the north of Jiangsu Province, China. It originates at Gaoliangjian on Hongze Lake and runs through Hongze, Qingpu, Huai'an, Funing, Sheyang and Binghai county(or district) and joins the artificial estuary of Biandan Harbour.^{[citation needed]} The canal is 168 km in length and can irrigate 1,720,000 hectares of farmland. The construction program was organized and directed by the headquarters of the Jiangsu Huai River management program between October 1951 and May 1952.

There are three main canals related to the main irrigation canal. The first is the famous Grand Canal which goes through the western part of north Jiangsu and crosses the Subei canal. It is called “the west main canal”. The second is the Chuanchang River. The main irrigation canal and Chuangyang River form a “T” junction called “east main canal”. The third is the Tongyang Canal, which lies in the southern part of north Jiangsu. It connects the start and ending points. This is called the “south main canal”. The North Jiangsu Main Irrigation Canal and these three main canals form a quadrangle connecting those inland rivers, which as a whole is an irrigation system.^[1] A parallel canal to the north, the Huai river estuarial canal [zh], aims to direct more water to the sea.