Conservation and Development of the Grand Canal Shandong Section
Not the Ultimate Objective
The successful application for the Grand Canal’s listing as World Heritage has drawn extensive attention to the otherwise lesser known cities along the canal. Many have started sketching plans for further conservation and management. Certain places are also keen to make the canal a focus of local tourism and shipping development. This entails even harder work to maintain the ancient style and cultural features of the Grand Canal, and to protect it from overexploitation and destructive construction. Balancing conservation and development is no easy matter.
Resolution of the conflict between conservation and development during the course of the World Heritage application has been achieved through appropriate methods to preserve cultural heritage that respect history and nature.
Wang Chenguang, professor of the Tourism Department at Shandong University, regards heritage preservation as incompatible with tourism development. World heritage, however, has brought a new perspective to local tourism development, from that solely focusing on natural resources to one embracing both nature and culture.
“Grand Canal tourism should combine with current culture in modifying and revitalizing existing traditions,” Chen Guozhong, head of the Tourism Planning and Design Institute of Shandong Province and project leader of the Grand Canal general tourism plan, said. The Grand Canal is a living heritage; it is therefore crucial that tourism development restores the region’s traditional dwellings, means of production, and lifestyle.
Xie Zhixiu, head of the Shandong Provincial Bureau of Cultural Heritage, regards the World Heritage application as a process and means rather than ultimate goal. The Grand Canal spans west Shandong from north to south. One of the major cultural heritage sites in the southwest Shandong economic zone, it is hence also a main tourism resource. The aims of Grand Canal conservation and its application for World Heritage include improving rural tourism and the image of Shandong Province, promoting the Grand Canal Shandong section as a new economic growth point, and facilitating sustainable and harmonious economic, social and cultural development.
In making sustainable use of the Grand Canal while inheriting and passing on its traditions, Shandong Province has launched a project showcasing its history and culture. It has also embarked on major preservation projects aimed at building up the province’s economy, culture and the Southwest Shandong Economic Rising Belt. Historic sites, museums, the
Grand Trek, and display platforms have effectively displayed and heightened the canal’s historical, scientific and cultural value. The conservation project has created cultural highlights such as the archaeological site of the water-division hub in Nanwang Town in Wenshang County, Tai’erzhuang Ancient Town, and the Grand Canal’s south section in Dezhou. The ultimate aim of the plan is to string together the pearls of cultural heritage along the Grand Canal, so forming a historical and cultural landscape belt spanning southwest Shandong from north to south.
