People nowadays may be unfamiliar with the word "caoyun" (which means "water transport" in archaic Chinese). During the past imperial dynasties of China, especially the Ming and Qing dynasties, boats and ships engaging in "caoyun" on the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal constituted a lifeline to maintain the normal operation of the country. During the Qing Dynasty, hundreds of millions jin (nearly 600 grams) of grain were gathered each year at the Shiba Terminal and the Tuba Terminal in Tongzhou, and then transferred to the capital's warehouses along the Tonghui River and via the moat. Nowadays, the green glazed tile-roofed weighing hall and the small green tile-roofed windlass well house of the Caoyun Terminal seem to be telling the grand stories of water transportation centuries ago.