“The same water either supports or overturns boats on it,”  Li Shimin, the second emperor of the Tang in the 7th century, often  cited these Confucius’ remarks which compared water to the people and boats to sovereigns.  He did this to repeatedly remind himself of the lessons he learned from the fall of the Sui. He founded a golden age in China's history.  The Grand Canal witnessed and even underwrote the rise and fall of power and wealth of dynasties, cities and people for thousands of years  in ancient China.  The first person people think about in connection to the Grand Canal is Emperor Yang of the Sui dynasty about 1,400 years ago. The Grand Canal was his project. But it was also in a city on the Grand Canal and largely because of the Grand Canal that he lost his empire and his life.