As the Chinese poem goes, "Take a journey south to Yangzhou in March, when flowers are blooming". Spring is the best season to travel to the southern part of China to view the scenery.

Emperor Yang Guang, the second emperor of the Sui Dynasty (581-618), completed excavation of the Grand Canal in 611 AD, which became the main transport artery between south and north China. It is said along with political, economic and military reasons, he excavated the canal to go south to enjoy Qionghua, or the Chinese snowball Viburnum bush, in Yangzhou in spring.

The Grand Canal, the world's longest man-made canal, runs through Beijing and Tianjin municipalities, as well as Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces.

As spring has come to most parts of China, let's travel along the Grand Canal to enjoy spring scenes from these places.