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Grand Canal queues for World Heritage status
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-07-06 17:09
China is assessing the feasibility of applying for world heritage status for
its Grand Canal and will officially start the application process soon, said a
senior Chinese cultural heritage official.
"The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is the longest artificial river in the
world, as well as a key north-south water channel in China. The Grand Canal and
the Great Wall are two great engineering wonders of ancient China," said Shan
Jixiang, director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage (SACH), while
attending the 28th Session of the World Heritage Committee held in Suzhou, east
China's Jiangsu Province.
The latest version of the Operational Guidelines for the implementation of
UNESCO's Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural
Heritage has made canals and cultural routes new varieties of world heritage.
"China's Grand Canal possesses all the basic features required by relevant
standards. It has indisputable outstanding universal value and is an important
embodiment of the Chinese culture," said Professor Yu Kongjian of Beijing
University.
Completed in 1291, the Grand Canal starts from Tongzhou District of Beijing
in the north and runs 1,794 kilometers southward to Hangzhou of east China's
Zhejiang Province. The project traverses five major rivers in China, the Haihe
River, the Yellow River, the Huaihe River, the Yangtze River and the Qiantang
River, and six provinces.
Over long periods, the canal served as an important route to ship grain from
the fertile south to the grain-consuming north in ancient China. Prosperous
economic belts emerged along the banks of the canal accordingly, said Yu.
He said the canal also bears witness to cultural exchanges between China's
north and south. Numerous historical incidents, major schools of thoughts,
important literary works and folk customs are linked with this waterway.
However, fast urbanization has brought risks to the Grand Canal, said Dr. Li
Wei of Beijing University, who specializes in the research of the Grand Canal.
"Certain sections of the canal have become dried and encroached upon by
urbanization and land cultivation. Local operas, legends and folk customs linked
with those sections are vanishing day by day," he said.
SACH's Shan attributed the situation to lack of due attention by regional
governments and a unified planning and management system to overlook the whole
project.
Shan, however, envisioned opportunities for the preservation of the Grand
Canal as a cultural relic in the future.
"The eastern route of the south-north water diversion project under
construction will mainly rely on the course of the ancient Grand Canal. It
brings chances to rehabilitating the paralyzed ecological systems in certain
sections and realizing comprehensive preservation of the Grand Canal," he said.
"Proper protection, along with rational utilization, can give a chance for
the revival such a century-old waterway," he added.
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