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Grand Canal of China: World Heritage?

Source:www.cnanhui.org   Date:2014-04-21

A couple of years ago, China applied for World Heritage status for the country's famous Grand Canal. But the result won't be known until next month.
Built in 1291, the world's longest artificial waterway starts from Tongzhou district of Beijing and runs 1,794 kilometers southward to Hangzhou of East China's Zhejiang province. It runs through Anhui province over a total length of 180 kilometers. The 140-kilometer section in Sixian county of Suzhou city is the only existing section with flowing water, also known as "the living canal".
"The living canal is now used for irrigation," said an official with the provincial administration of cultural heritage. It was included on a list of 43 sections for World Heritage status last year, together with Liuzi Dock which was listed among 132 sites along the whole river.
Last September, a team of experts from the UNESCO World Heritage Committee spoke highly of the province's two candidates while conducting an appraisal here. "They deemed them 'spectacular', rating that they were well protected and developed," the official recalled.
Since they made the list, local authorities have stepped up efforts to protect the two sites. Two excavations have been carried out since the Liuzi Dock was unearthed in 1999. Meanwhile, the surrounding environment has been improved, according to the cultural heritage official.
Whether the Grand Canal can be inscribed on the World Heritage List will be unveiled at the 38th session of the World Heritage Committee in Qatar, Doha between June 15 and June 25.
"If we succeed, the Anhui section will be better protected and utilized," as it will be subject to the country's Regulations on the Protection and Management of World Cultural Heritage, and may benefit from special programs to be launched by local governments, according to officials with the Anhui Provincial Department of Culture.