Although Venice is composed of islands and canals, the Grand Canal is the only really large one. It's shaped like a backwards letter S, and is approximately two miles long. At its widest point, at the Salute/San Marco (southern) end, it is roughly 350 feet wide; the normal width is about half that. I found this site to give me alot of information about the grand canal and how the people lived at the time. I would recomend this site to you if you are doing the grand canal.

大运河 The Grand Canal of China is the world's oldest and longest canal, far surpassing the next two grand canals of the world: Suez and Panama Canal. The building of the canal began in 486 B.C. during the Wu Dynasty. I found this site verry helpful towards just finding the importent facts aout the grand canal. It gave me a better understanding of the grand canal.

Emperor Yangdi of Sui was the second son of Emperor Wendi of Sui and the last emperor of Sui Dynasty in China. Also called Yang Guang, Emperor Yangdi of Sui was famous for its brutality and inhumanity, which generally is considered to be the important reasons that lead Sui Dynasty to devastation. This website gives good Specific information about Emperor Yangdi, it also gives information about other emperors from Ancient china, its history, culture, religion and other factual information that may come of use to you.