Animal husbandry and fishery here were also well developed. As per the relative historical books, such as the “Records of the History of the Yue Kingdom” and some other historic literatures, in the Wu area many large livestock raising bases were built, including “chicken city”,“duck city”, “deer city” , “cow castle” , “pheasant city” , etc., to rear chickens , ducks , cow, pigs , sheep and other animals . Being a region with crisscross rivers and lakes, Wu had rich resources for fishery, and the Wu people learned to breed fish artificially. There were some “fishery towns”. So the Wu area was known as the “land of rice and fish”.
The earliest canal was dug in the Wu domain, which was pioneering project of the kind in the Chinese history. In order to extend its influence northward to central China, a town was constructed by the Wu State at Han (modern Yang Zhou ) in 486 B.C. , and a canal was dug between the Yangtze River and the Huai River , called the Han Ditch .The water of the Han Ditch flowed from Yangzhou northeastward through Sheyang Lake to Weikou ( modern Huai’an ) into the Huai River . In 482 B.C. Wu dug the canal farther from the Huai River northward to the Yi River and westward to the Ji River between the Lu state and the Song State , linking the Yangtze River waterways and the Rui River waterways . The completion of this project marked a brilliant feat in the history of water conservancy engineering and navigation of China.
Toward the end of the Spring-Autumn period Wu first mastered the technique of iron metallurgy. In the “Wu-Yue Spring-Autumn Annals” , there are records of “Gan Jiang mined iron in the five mountains to make his swords” and of “the making of iron armours”.
Shipbuilding in the Wu State was highly developed. Since the Wu State had crisscross rivers and lakes, ships were the main communication means. In the Neolithic Age remains, near Tai Lake were found some oars of wooden boats, which showed the primitive people living in the Wu area at the Neolithic Age could make canoes. In the Spring-Autumn period the shipbuilders were able to build boats and ships in various shapes for different uses , such as the big-wing ship , the middle-wing ship, the small-wing ship , the protruding ship , the towered ship , the bridge ship , the protruding ship , the towered ship , the bridge ship , the dagger-shape ship , etc., Taking advantage of this the Wu State built a powerful , well organized navy , equipped with all kinds of warships . As was recorded in the “Records of Historian” , in 485 B.C., the Wu fleet “attacked the Qi State by sea”. It was clear that the Wu ships not only could voyage at sea . The earliest Chinese navy came into being in the Wu State .
