Chapter 34 Section 2 Qinqu and Hanqu

On the Ningxia Plain, digging canals to divert water and irrigate farmland can be traced back to the Qin and Han Dynasties. Since the late Warring States period, Qin's national power has become stronger day by day.In addition to emphasizing the management of the East and South, it also pays great attention to developing the West and North.It successively defeated Xirong Yiqu and the nomadic Huns, and expanded its territory to Hetao and its vast areas in the southwest.In order to consolidate its rule over these places, in addition to stationing heavy troops and building the Northwest Great Wall, it also set up counties and counties in the local areas for governance.Among them, although the county seat of Beidi County is located in Yiqu (Qingyang, Gansu Province), its jurisdiction extends as far as the Ningxia Plain.Fuping County, one of the counties under the jurisdiction of the county, is located in the southwest of Wuzhong County in present-day Ningxia. The main jurisdiction of the county is the Ningxia Plain.Since Qin built the Great Wall here, garrisoned troops, dispatched officials, and governed the people, in order to solve the food problem of the officers and soldiers, it was necessary to build water conservancy to develop local agricultural production.

In earlier documents, there is no record that the Qin Dynasty built water conservancy here.However, the legend that Qin people once dug canals here is widely spread. .Qin Qu, also known as Beidi Dongqu, is said to be related to its location east of the Yellow River in Beidi County.Although the establishment of Beidi County in history lasted until the Tang Dynasty, only Beidi County in the Qin and Han Dynasties had its jurisdiction reach the Ningxia Plain.It is still possible for Qin Qu to be chiseled in the Qin Dynasty.In addition to the Hedong Qin Canal, it is said that the Qin Dynasty also dug a canal in the west of Hexi, which is called Beidi Xiqu by later generations.

By the Han Dynasty, the status of the Ningxia Plain was more important than that of the Qin Dynasty.In order to deal with the powerful Xiongnu, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty implemented a large-scale military settlement and immigration policy in the northwest border.Only immigrating to the real border, more than 1 million inland residents have been migrated to Wuyuan, Shuofang (both counties are in the Hetao area), Jiuquan, Zhangye (both counties are in the Hexi Corridor area) Beidi and other northwestern counties.In the Ningxia Plain of Beidi County, due to the substantial increase in the population and the army, many civil and military institutions were established for a while.In the Qin Dynasty, only Fuping County was set up here. In the Western Han Dynasty, in addition to Fuping, Lingwu (where the government is located in the north of Yinchuan City today), Lian County (where the government is located in the west of Yinchuan City), and Juan〔shun〕juan (where the government is located) Northeast of today's Zhongning County) and other counties.In addition, there are also military institutions such as Captain Hunhuai and Captain Shanghe Diannong.Due to the increasingly important status here, the county government of Beidi County was also moved to Fuping County in the Eastern Han Dynasty.

Adapting to these changes, irrigation projects on the Ningxia Plain also increased and expanded during the Han Dynasty.In Hedong, it is said that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty opened a new canal, which is called Hanqu or Hanboqu by later generations.The diversion mouth of this channel is above the head of Qinqu, it bypasses the south and east of Qinqu, and flows back into the Yellow River to the north of Fuping. "Shui Jing Zhu" quoted "Geographic Records" and said: "The river water does not come out as a ditch. It reaches Fuping in the east and enters the river in the north." This ditch should refer to the Hanqu.The irrigated area of ​​the Hanqu is larger than that of the Qinqu.In Hexi, two very long irrigation canals were dug during the Eastern Han Dynasty. One was called Hanyan Canal. In the fourth year of Emperor Yongjian of the Eastern Han Dynasty (129 A.D.), Guo Huang presided over the digging.According to legend, it was extended on the basis of the original Beidi Xiqu.The other one was drilled by Xu Ziwei. It is on the west side of Hanyan Canal and extends northward parallel to Hanyan Canal.Because Xu Ziwei lived in Guangluxun as an official, people also called this new canal Guanglu Canal.

It can be said that the water conservancy layout of the Yinchuan Plain was basically established during the Han Dynasty (Figure 10).

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