The Grand Canal is a vast waterway system in China, running from Beijing in the north to Zhejiang province in the south. It stretches for nearly 3,200 kilometers and passes through eight of the country's provinces and municipalities.
Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, the canal is the longest and oldest artificial river in the world. It has played an important role in ensuring China's economic prosperity and stability, and is in use today as a major means of transportation.
The Beijing section of the Grand Canal is 82 km long. Along it, cultural relics and sites on both banks are important symbols of culture and are considered a top priority for protection by the local government.
The city government has unveiled two development plans: the first is an implementation plan for the protection, inheritance and utilization of the canal's cultural values; the second is a construction plan for building a Grand Canal-themed national cultural park.
The plan sets up three implementation milestones in the next five years. In 2020, efforts have been made to lay a firm foundation for the construction of the Grand Canal National Cultural Park, with the Tongzhou section of the canal open to navigation and a management mechanism of the park established. By 2023, significant progress is expected to be made in coordinating the protection and utilization of cultural resources along the canal, with the national cultural park basically set up. By 2025, the park will become a new cultural landmark in Beijing. The Grand Canal, with its cultural resources put under protection and ecological conservation along its banks significantly improved, will embrace improved cultural and tourism development. Cities along the canal by then will welcome further coordinated or integrated development.
The Beijing section of the Grand Canal, a valued asset for the capital, is marked out as a river boasting rich cultural resources, ecological value, social benefits and economic potential. The capital is set to roll out more measures to bring out the best in the canal.
