The Grand Canal Joins the Queue for World Heritage Status

By staff reporter LU RUCAI

Boat dwellers on the canal.	The Wujiang section of the Grand Canal in Jiangsu Province.	A stone embankment.

The symposium in late May 2006, attended by leaders of the 18 cities along the Grand Canal concluded with the Hangzhou Declaration on the Protection of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal and Application for World Heritage Status.

Other participants in the symposium were members of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and experts and scholars in the fields of water conservancy, history, geography, and protection of cultural relics. Prior to it, a 200-member investigation group made a 2,500-kilometer inspection tour of the canal from Beijing to Hangzhou. Its aim was to ascertain the canal’s overall condition, draft a plan and institute more scientific methods for its protection, according to the requirements of the world heritage status application.

Luo Zhewen, president of China Cultural Relics Society and expert on ancient architecture and cultural relics, recalled that when China applied for the Great Wall’s world heritage status more than two decades ago, certain experts suggested that the Grand Canal be included in the application. But the prevailing view was that a cultural relic is stationary, rather than flowing, and that as some sections of the canal had dried up, others were seriously polluted and parts of the watercourse had shifted its inclusion in the application would be inappropriate.

New hope came to protectors of cultural relics, however, in the form of the 2005 Operational Guidelines for Implementation of the UNESCO Convention Concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage. These guidelines designate remains of canals and cultural routes as world heritage.

A Wonder of the World Equal to the Great Wall

A letter addressed to mayors of the 18 cities along the canal on December 15, 2005, jointly written by Zheng Xiaoxie, 91-year-old expert on ancient architecture and member of the CPPCC National Committee; Luo Zhewen, 82-year-old expert on cultural relics and ancient architecture; and Zhu Bingren, expert on sculpture from Hangzhou, reads:

“In commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Convention Concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage, we call for your redoubled efforts towards China’s successful application for the Grand Canal’s tangible and intangible cultural heritage status. Taking into account its historical value, cultural connotations, and contribution to China’s communications over the centuries, the Canal has significance equal to that of the Great Wall.”

During the annual sessions of the National People’s Congress (NPC) and CPPCC in March, 2006, suggestions regarding the application were submitted by 58 CPPCC members.

The Operational Guidelines for Implementation of the UNESCO Convention Concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage designates ancient canal remains as tangible and intangible world heritage because they constitute historic records of human migration and the mutual benefit engendered by commercial and cultural exchanges. The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, therefore, is an eminent candidate. Luo Zhewen, who participated in the inspection tour of the Grand Canal, thus endorsed the application:

“I specialize in architecture. The two outstanding architectural projects in Chinese history are the Great Wall and the Grand Canal, because they are of grand scale and represent 2,000 years of Chinese history. Just one historical event of enormous political, military and cultural significance that the canal records occurred during the Yuan Dynasty, when it was extended from Tongzhou to central Beijing, enabling goods to be shipped along the waterway between southern China and Beijing.”

The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal runs for 1,794 km and connects the two municipalities of Beijing and Tianjin, the four provinces of Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and also links five river systems – the Haihe, the Huanghe (Yellow River), the Huaihe, the Changjiang (Yangtze) and the Qiantang. It is the longest man-made watercourse in the world, more than 10 times the length of the Suez Canal and 22 times that of the Panama Canal.

The Grand Canal is both a waterway and an irrigation system. It dates back to the Han Ditch, cut in 486 B.C. on the orders of the king of the State of Wu during the late Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 B.C.), that linked the Huaihe and the Yangtze rivers. Emperor Yangdi of the Sui Dynasty (581-618), conscripted millions of laborers to dig the watercourse that constituted the foundation of the Grand Canal. Further work was carried out in the succeeding Tang (618-907) and Song dynasties (960-1279). During the Yuan Dynasty the Grand Canal was basically the same as it looks like today.

The canal’s purpose was swift and untrammeled transportation of grain from the south to the political centers in north and northwest China as an alternative to slow, costly overland transport. It solved the problem of storage and supply of grain to troops on the northern frontier, and as such consolidated national defense. The canal, therefore, was instrumental in bolstering and maintaining imperial rule.

Today, the canal still transports grain from the south, and also coal from the north with the help of 16 stepped navigation channels that form an artery for material circulation in the Yangtze River Delta. A total 110,000 ships with a transport volume of 258 million tons navigate the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal and inland river network of the Yangtze River Delta. Qi Xin, assistant to Luo Zhewen, said, “There have been times when the Grand Canal has become so silted up that traffic along it has come to a halt. It has had its misfortunes, but in my opinion, its function as a canal will continue for the foreseeable 100 years.”

The canal’s application for world heritage status is also sustained by the imminent eastern route operation of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project. When this occurs, water diverted to the Hebei and Tianjin sections of the Grand Canal will rejuvenate this ancient waterway, according to Luo Zhewen.

Famous Cities Nurtured by the Grand Canal

The Hangzhou Declaration so assesses the historic and cultural value of the Grand Canal: The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal reflects the outstanding achievements of ancient China’s water conservancy engineering. It has engendered rich historical and cultural heritage, and nurtured famous cities and towns along it, accumulating profound cultural connotations and providing a wealth of information about China’s politics, economy, culture and society.

The prosperous commodity economy of the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, when emperors traveled along the Grand Canal to observe the prosperity of southern China, enabled 30 or so cities to spring up, most of them were along the Grand Canal. They included Beijing, Tianjin, Jining, Xuzhou, Yangzhou, Suzhou and Hangzhou. This narrow belt of a canal soon became the most prosperous area in China, with a dense population, flourishing centers of material collection and distribution and developed transportation. During the Southern Song Dynasty, when grain transportation on the canal reached its zenith, Hangzhou had a population of 1.24 million, making it one of the world’s ten largest cities. The Grand Canal was integral to Hangzhou’s becoming one of the three trading ports of the Tang Dynasty, along with Guangzhou and Yangzhou, according to Wang Guoping, secretary of CPC Hangzhou municipal committee.

. “As there is paradise in heaven, there are Suzhou and Hangzhou on earth,” so the Chinese saying goes. Hangzhou has retained the glory of the Grand Canal by virtue of able management. The Hangzhou authorities have successfully linked the Grand Canal and the Qiantang River by digging a new seven-kilometer channel. Sewage interception works have been built in the Hangzhou section of the canal, and the Sibao Sewage Treatment Plant has been expanded. Implementation of this comprehensive harnessing, protection and development project has rejuvenated the Grand Canal.

Huai’an, with a history of more than 2,000 years, is where the Grand Canal joins the Huaihe River. Its chessboard-like streets and lanes represent the archetypal pattern of ancient administration. Huai’an retains some of its original architectural features, including the office of the director-general of grain transport and of Huai’an Prefecture. Its advantage in river transportation is no longer eminent, but in its recent drive to develop “Canal Culture” the city has renovated the Qingjiang Sluice Gate on the ancient canal, and rebuilt Qingjiangpu Tower on Zhongzhou Island and the imperial dock in Hexia Town. The office of the director-general of grain transport is now a theme park and a 30-kilometer Inner Canal Cultural Corridor has also been created. Having given birth to Huai’an, the Grand Canal has now put this city back on the commercial map.

Conservation Difficulties

“All 18 mayors along the banks of the canal have pledged to protect the canal and support its application for world heritage status. But the fact is, many of them are not clear how,” said Qi Xin, who has conducted four inspection tours on the canal.

This was his disappointing conclusion. Not one city along the canal banks meets the standards required for a world heritage status application, insofar as taking proper measures to protect the canal is concerned. This is particularly the case in certain northern sections of the canal that are silted up and choked with garbage.

Factuality and integrity are the two most important factors, but to date, no expert has given an exact answer as how to reflect factuality and integrity of the ancient canal.

Chen Shu, chief of the Hangzhou Municipal Commander of Grand Canal Comprehensive Harnessing, Protection and Development, said that in order to protect the Grand Canal, Hangzhou has plans to dig a new canal to its east, leaving the ancient canal for purely tourism purposes. But as one expert pointed out, this is the kind of “protective damage,” that would cause the Grand Canal to lose its distinctive features.

Other riverside cities have made similar suggestions. Mi Songyi, a member of the CPPCC National Committee, said, “We should regard the application for world heritage status from the point of view of development and protect it in a scientific way, rather than on a subjective basis.” Mi holds that the Grand Canal is of greater cultural value than the Great Wall because it still plays an important role in water transport, whereas the Great Wall has no practical function. Cities along its banks, however, regard the canal as a means to develop their economy, rather than a cultural relic to be protected.

Chen Shu stated that comprehensive conservation of the canal would be in two phases: the first an overall survey of the canal’s historical and cultural remains; the second renovation of ancient buildings and explore the legacy of temple fairs and markets as a means of restoring its cultural ecology. Total investment in this two-prong project will exceed RMB 20 billion.

At present, there are about 100 ongoing Chinese applications for world heritage status. But countries that already have heritage sites may only make one application a year, according to UNESCO regulations. The exact date of the Grand Canal’s application has not yet been decided. Experts estimate that it will be submitted in three to five years.

Domestic experts are confident that the application will be successful. “Although requirements regarding world heritage sites are becoming more rigorous, I believe that good management and effective renovation will make the Grand Canal meet all aspects of the relevant criteria,” said Luo Zhewen, who believes wholeheartedly in the Grand Canal and its future.