An aerial view of busy commercial streets along a tributary of the Grand Canal in Jining, East China's Shandong province [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

A commercial center driven by water

The convenient transportation on the canal has made Jining a historical commercial center. 

According to historical records, Jining’s economic development peaked in the late Ming Dynasty and the early Qing Dynasty.

The booming handicraft and trade industries formed a lot of commercial streets and alleys on the river banks, and the most famous is Zhugan (bamboo poles) Alley.

The alley, which has a history of more than 700 years, got its name for being home to many handicraft workshops that specialized in bamboo weaving and local specialties, said He Daixin, a 67-year-old local.

 "My ancestor moved from Suzhou, Jiangsu province to Jining to be a managing officer on the canal during the middle Qing Dynasty," He said. The He family has been living in the alley since then. 

According to He, there were over 190 households engaged in the bamboo handicraft industry. "The front of the households were the sales areas, and the workshop and the warehouse were in the back, and the second floors were for accommodation," He said.

In addition, the canal economy also promoted the development of many time-honored brands such as Guangyutang. 

Jining had hundreds of traditional Chinese medicine businesses in the late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty periods, and Guangyutang was the largest in terms of scale.

Founded in 1578 by Li Guangyu, an outstanding student of an imperial physician,  Guangyutang was the first drugstore chain in China's history.

Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty tasted a tonic named Erxiangao that was produced by Guangyutang and found it to be effective in refreshing human body. The emperor awarded a wooden tablet that was engraved with the name of the tonic in his own handwriting to Guangyutang, which won the store an enviable reputation. 

After more than 440 years of development, Guangyutang has developed 1,180 classic prescriptions. The technique of making its signature product Erxiangao has been listed as a national intangible cultural heritage item. 

There are a host of other famous brands along the canal in Jining including a sesame pancake, which was also highly praised by Emperor Qianlong, Shi Family mutton soup and Qingsanheng, a store specializing in producing traditional Chinese cakes. 

Most of the brands date back to the Qing Dynasty. They have all dealt with rise and fall with the development of the canal economy and still exist today as a memory of the ancient city's history on the canal.