The waterway in snapshots

Cycling tours

In June 1981, magazine photographer Liu Shizhao and journalist Shen Xingda set out on a Grand Canal reporting tour. They bade farewell to Tongzhou, the waterway's north end in Beijing, and pedaled toward the south end in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province.

The duo halted in towns along the banks, clicked photographs and interviewed people. The remarkable journey－interrupted only by scorching summer heat and subzero winter temperatures－ended after two years, during which 3,000-plus pictures were taken and stories written to accompany them.

Serial reports about the water corridor were published in the Japanese edition of the People's China magazine over the following two years.

"It was probably the first time the Chinese media went to such great lengths to cover the Grand Canal," says Liu. "We received several letters from readers after the reports were published. I remember one Japanese reader asking me to sign a photograph."