For centuries, the people of present-day Linzhou, Henan province, watched every place experience rainfall but their own fields. Droughts left the land cracked like scales, and people said that even the birds changed their flight path to avoid the region.

In the 1960s, they decided to move mountains to solve the problem, and finally carved a waterway through them.

Today, the Red Flag Canal, which diverts water from present-day Shanxi province to Linzhou, winds its way for 70.6 kilometers through the steep cliffs of the Taihang Mountains like a jade ribbon. It catches the morning light with every turn, its shimmering surface reflecting the towering peaks.

When Jerome Clement, a French cultural scholar, revisited the canal years before, he was surprised to find that the challenging project he had witnessed more than four decades ago, had become "a legend, as well as a tourist destination".

During a study visit in 1974, Clement stayed in China for a month and traveled to the canal.

"At that time, I knew nothing about it, but upon arrival I found it was in a very underdeveloped rural area. The main body of the canal had already been built, but many follow-up projects were still needed. I realized this was an extraordinarily arduous project — no machines, no vehicles, no tracks, only human hands and feet," he said in the documentary Return to the Red Flag Canal.

In impoverished conditions, hundreds of thousands of local people chiseled out the canal with primitive tools for more than a decade in their bid to end Linzhou's lingering arid conditions.

"Now I have returned, and changes have occurred. The canal remains, and the surrounding environment has significantly improved. ... What touches me most is that this canal, like the Great Wall, has become a legend and symbol of the country and its people," Clement said in the documentary.

Decades later, visitors to the Youth Cave — the project's most difficult section that was finally completed by 300 young people with extraordinary determination — often press their palms against the chiseled rock walls, fitting their fingers into the same hollows left by earlier hands, as if measuring the distance between past and present.

"Before building this canal, people in Linzhou bathed only three times in their lives: at birth, before marriage and in death. In many villages, they had to walk five or six kilometers just to carry water back home. Without this canal, there would be no Linzhou as we know it today," said Wang Qinghai, director of the canal source division of the Red Flag Canal irrigation district service center in Linzhou.

Tian Lingli, director of the Red Flag Canal memorial hall, noted that for tourists, visiting the canal provides the dual experience of feeling shocked and moved at the same time. "They will not only see an engineering marvel, but will also feel the spirit of the endless struggles of that era," she said.

Tian added that visitors should first visit the memorial hall for a basic understanding of the canal's history, then take a shuttle bus to the Youth Cave to see the real traces of the past.

Song Shangju, head of Linzhou's bureau of tourism, culture, radio and television, said: "You can take a boat through the cave. Walking along the canal bank on the cliffside also gives you a vivid sense of the project's peril and the immense power of human endeavor."

He added that although a silt-removing project is currently underway, leaving less water in the canal, it will soon return to looking its best.

Leaving the cave and taking a taxi for less than 20 minutes, visitors arrive at Luosi Pool, a treacherous, deep pool on the Zhuozhang River, from which the canal draws its water. It has distinctive canyon topography, with a natural waterfall that flows in summer and forms an icy screen in winter, Song said.

"A marvelous blend of human ingenuity and natural grandeur, the Red Flag Canal reflects the monumental feat of human endeavor, alongside the breathtaking work of nature itself, where mountains and waters embrace, and scenery and emotions intertwine," Song said. "This allows visitors to not only gain spiritual insight, but also appreciate the majestic beauty of the Taihang Mountains."

Qi Xin contributed to this story.

Travel Tips

Ticket: 80 yuan ($11.76) per person, including the memorial hall, the Youth Cave and the shuttle bus. The Luosi Pool is free to visit. Tickets can be purchased on site, or through the scenic spot's official WeChat account and mini app.