After the Great Canal had been put to use during the Sui Dynasty, it changed the basic pattern of the Chinese main rivers. And what's the most, it flowed through the regions between Yangtze River and Huaihe River , where the economy developed most quickly and the population increased very fast. During the Tang Dynasty, the Great Canal contributed greatly to the water transportation of the feudal country and the change of the country's economy pattern, it also improved the intercommunion of the economy and the culture between the North and the South, China and the neighbor countries. The Tang Dynasty could become one of the prosperous periods of the feudal society, partly because of the Great Canal.As we all know, which pushes the wheel of the history is not conspires, wars and blood, but culture and technology. It is philosophy and skill that impress the history and the human civilization. So the Great Cana! should be paid attention, it is valuable to do some research on the relationship between the Canal and the Tang Dynasty's social economy and culture.The paper consists of five chapters.Chapter 1, the general introduction of Sui and Tang Dynasty's Great Canal This chapter mainly introduces the cutting, repair and defense of the Great Canal. It is the basis of the following discussion.Chapter 2, "it was the canal that benefited the Tang Dynasty to acquire the riches of the forty-three states in the Southeast." In this chapter, the author introduces the food supplies, cloth and salt which were transported through the Great Canal during the Tang Dynasty, according to the poets and their poems. And the conclusion is that the Tang Dynasty's behavior of transporting the food supplies, cloth and salt of the South to the North balanced the economy level of the two regions.Chapter 3, "When it was dark, alongside the canal or the bridge, the tea businessmenbusinessmen and the drinkers were rollicking all over the night." In this chapter, the author introduces the tea which was transported through the Great Canal during the Tang Dynasty, and the grounds of argument are all the poems and articles of this dynasty. The conclusion is that Buddhism was not the cause of the drinking-tea-custom's North-introduction, but the result. It is the more and more importance of the South status and prosperous production of the tea that made the North people accepted tea-drinking.Chapter 4, Traveling on the Great Canal This chapter gathers the trails of the poets when they traveled on the Great Canal, including their description of the development of the South economy, their enjoy and acceptance of the South culture. In the poems, The Great Canal was a flowing strip of the civil culture. And the background which shaped the strip was the fast development of the commerce in the Southeast and the South-transfer of ancient Chinese's economy center.Chapter 5, "SuiYang Emperor's contribution on the cutting of the Great Canal could be equal to DaYu, if there were no those indulgence." This chapter mainly analyses how some poets of the middle and late Tang Dynasty changed their value idea, according to the change of their attitude towards SuiYang Emperor, towards commerce and the businessmen. Just because after the middle Tang Dynasty, some poets began to see the social by their own mind and eyes, and had a more moderate attitude towards the social, could they saw SuiYang Emperor and the businessmen in very new eyes. This was the reflection of their value idea's change.