Ships navigate the Rudong-Taixing Canal in Rugao, a county-level city in Nantong, East China’s Jiangsu province. [Photo/IC]

The Rudong-Taixing Canal is 155 kilometers long and links Rudong, a county-level city in Nantong, with Taixing, a county-level city in Taizhou. 

The canal began construction in 1958, but didn’t officially start operating at full capacity until July 16 this year.

It was designed to divert water from the Yangtze River to relieve water shortages in southern Nantong.

Construction on the Taixing section started in 1958 and finished in 1978. It was built entirely through manual labor. The Rugao section started construction in 1980 and finished in 1985.

Afterwards, the governments of the two cities ran out of money to build a water gate and the project was put on hold until last August, when the two governments decided to resume the project.

The canal connects the Yellow Sea in the east with the Yangtze River in the west and is one of Jiangsu province’s key shipping channels.

It is also a primary water source for aquaculture and industrial production and has helped improve the local environment.