The boatman's song of the Tongzhou Canal refers to the boatman's song of the canal from Tongzhou to Tianjin (i.e., the North Canal). It is a folk song created by canal boatmen to unify the pace of work, increase interest in work, and improve work efficiency. The origin of the canal boatman's song can only be traced back to the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty based on the singer's memories. It has been passed down to this day in the form of family, master-apprentice, and mutual learning. Today, the only inheritor of the canal song is 75-year-old Zhao Qingfu from Yantan Village, Yongshun Town, Tongzhou. Tongzhou is located in the southeast of Beijing, the northern starting point of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, and there were grain transport activities as early as the Qin Dynasty. In the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, the feudal dynasty established its capital in Beijing, and grain transport entered its heyday. At that time, there were more than 20,000 grain transport ships every year, connected head to tail for more than ten miles, and the magnificent fleet was accompanied by the sound of the magnificent songs. At the end of the reign of Emperor Guangxu, the canal transport was abolished and the status of Tongzhou Wharf gradually disappeared. However, the civilian passenger and cargo transport on the canal did not stop until 1943 when the canal was cut off due to a severe drought. At this point, the songs that rose and fell with the canal transport also disappeared from the Grand Canal. However, the boatman's songs have been passed down to this day because they have been passed down. The canal boatman's songs are closely associated with the work of the canal boatmen. There are many related tools, including the canal transport boats and the masts, tarpaulins, oars, poles, iron anchors, tow ropes, and ship anchoring stones on the boats. There are many types of canal boatman's songs, and ten types and twenty-two songs have been collected and sorted out, including: anchor raising, head-on collision, rowing, warehouse exit, mast raising, sail running, beach crossing, towing, lock-up, and idle. Except for the anchor raising, which is sung in unison, the singing forms are all one-leading and many-responding. The boatman's song of the canal is a vivid historical memory. After hundreds of years of inheritance, it is one of the important cultural symbols of the canal culture and Beijing culture. Today, the boatman's song of the canal has lost its living space. There is no successor to the inheritance. At the same time, there is a lack of sufficient understanding and scientific research on it.