China's Grand Canal has a trick at its summit. The canal runs north to south for nearly two thousand kilometres, but in Shandong the land rises to a ridge between the Yellow River and the Huai, and boats cannot cross a hill. At Nanwang, near Wenshang, Ming dynasty engineers solved the problem in the early fifteenth century. The overseer Song Li and the water expert Bai Ying built a dam across the Wen River to divert its water to the summit of the canal, where it split, sending a share north and a share south. The idea was to feed both slopes from one high point.
The complex included the diversion channel, a sluice, a dam and a temple to the Dragon King, the water god, and some of these survive. The Nanwang hub made the canal work for centuries, and it carried grain, silk and soldiers between the rich south and the capital in the north. The canal's scale is hard to grasp, but here, at the summit, you can see how the engineers shaped water to their purposes. UNESCO listed the Grand Canal in 2014.
The land around is flat farmland on the North China Plain, with wheat, corn and cotton, and small villages built of brick. Wenshang, about seven kilometres away, has about sixty thousand people, and Zhoucheng, a bit further, is a larger town. The roads are straight and busy with trucks, and a motorbike here is a rare sight. In summer, heat and humidity are heavy, and thunderstorms come in the afternoon. Winter is dry and cold, and spring can bring dust from the north.
Please note that riding rules in China are strict. Foreign visitors generally cannot ride a motorcycle without local registration and a Chinese licence, so check what you can do before you plan anything. Fuel and food are easy to find in the towns, and local dishes in Shandong include noodles, steamed buns and braised meat. Early morning, when the farmers are out and the light is soft, is the best time to look at the water. It is a place for thought.