Liaocheng: A Vital Junction in the Canal Transport, a Commercial Centre City at the Northern end of Shandong Canal
摘要
What opportunities did history present to Liaocheng that allowed it to maintain prosperity for over four hundred years during the Ming and Qing dynasties? What jokes did history play on it, causing it to remain obscure for the past hundred or so years? And how did history once again favor it, causing it to be gradually known to people by the name “The Water City of the North” and “Venice of Northern China” in recent years?—All of these are connected to the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.