Board Thread:Custom Lore Development/@comment-26535281-20170503011003

"If the city is the heart of Xin then the Canal is the veins. As important as good roads are the Canals which bring the far flung territories of Xin together."

-Liao Xing

The Grand Canal connects the Tianti, Li, Wei, and Tao rivers into one massive network of well canals and locks which all together form the 'Grand Canal'

This network of Canals allows goods from one end of Xin to be transported to another without much hassle and also during the early empire was the best form of communication (Now out dated by hawks). Many great cities in Xin are built upon the Canal's banks

The Canal itself is as wide as a large river and can accommodate ships of all sorts and types. Bridges crossing over the Canal must be tall enough for the largest ships.

The Canal is vital to Xin which means it's maintenance is a top priority with one of the celestial council members having their job dedicated to this task. Soiling the Canal is a capital offense and so is impeding or blocking the canal.

Fun facts:

One of the few cities to not be connected to the Canal is Zhengzhou itself both for security reasons and it's proximity to the sea and the artificial lake within it's walls.

Traveling up river was once a problem until the engineer Zhao Ling invented the lock 