Carrying the Chinese culture for thousands of years, the Grand Canal witnessed the beauty of China from past to present, telling stories of history and future. In collaboration with the Network of International Culturalink Entities and Tourism Departments of the eight provinces and cities along the Grand Canal, including Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Henan, Shandong, Anhui, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, China Cultural Centre and China National Tourist Office in Sydney are proudly to present this online event introducing this awe-inspiring heritage site – the Grand Canal.

The Grand Canal is the longest and oldest canal in the world. It runs across China’s main river basins from the south to the north, linking the Yellow River, the Huaihe River and the Yangtze River. With more than 2,000 years of development and evolution, the Grand Canal has played a significant role as the main transport artery between south and north China. On June 22th 2014, the Grand Canal was inscribed on the World Heritage List in the 38th annual session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee and became the 46th China’s World Heritage Site. In July 2017, China issued a plan to establish the Grand Canal as a national culture park covering the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, the Sui-Tang Grand Canal and the Eastern Zhejiang Canal. By the end of April 2022, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal had water flowing through its entire 1,789-kilometre channel for the first time in about a century, marking a new chapter in its 2500 years of history. The full recovery of the canal shows that it will continue to play an essential role in water supply, transportation and shipping and become a veritable “golden waterway”.

With a theme of Travelling the Ancient Canal and Enjoying the Beauty of Intangible Cultural Heritage, this online event with documentary films, selected short videos and photo exhibitions showcases the stunning scenery along the Grand, introduces the cultural value of the Grand Canal and highlights the spirit of the Grand Canal era.