This article identifies Beijing, the capital city of late Imperial China for about 800 years, as the junctional point of the two spatial civilizations, the continent and the maritime, and attempts to re-examine the Grand Canal, the transportation route of Beijing, as the connecting line to the continent and the maritime civilization. As for the time frame, the Yuan-Ming-Qing dynasties, in which Beijing performs the function of the Capital of whole area and the dynamics of the Grand Canal are remarkably expressed, were used as the basic analysis period.
In this article, I tried to modify the existing view that Beijing was regarded as a city of continental civilization. Until now, many scholars have not paid much attention to the fact that Beijing was not a self-sufficient city, that is, Beijing was a city that could not survive unless it was linked to the Grand Canal.
However, since Beijing was created and maintained by connecting with the Grand Canal, which is based on “connectivity,” the vitality of ocean continued to be added to the continental city of Beijing. The Grand Canal played not only the integration between the north and south China, but also the role of a connecting line connecting the maritime civilization through the Jiangnan route connecting Hangzhou and Suzhou, Ningpo route connecting Zhedong Canal and Zoushan islands, and Tianjin route connecting the Gulp of Pohai. The Grand Canal has made Beijing, which was born on the basis of continental civilization, the junctional point between continental and maritime civilization.
After all, Beijing can be described as follows in the history of civilization.
“Beijing is a port. It is a port that leads to pasture and continents and connects to the sea through the Grand Canal.”