canal and irrigation system in northern Henan and in Shanxi (Shansi) provinces, eastern China, constructed in 1960–69 to irrigate the poor and infertile area of Linxian county (now Linzhou municipality) in the foothills of the Taihang Mountains west of Anyang. To relieve this area's chronic shortage of water, the canal was constructed for 44 miles (71 km) across the mountains to a large dam on the Zhang River in Shanxi. Construction of the canal was an engineering feat: in places it required cutting the channel into sheer cliff faces and constructing 42 tunnels and many aqueducts, some of considerable length. Since 1965, when the main canal was completed, the area has been linked with a system of drainage channels and reservoirs and with more than 600 miles (965 km) of irrigation canals. The system irrigates some 100,000 acres (40,000 hectares). It supports 14 hydroelectric stations that supply power to local coal-fueled industries, producing cement, fertilizer, iron, and steel for local consumption.