Page 7 - JIANGSU

The Rivers, Lakes and Seas of Jiangsu 2

GONG Liang:
Deputy Director-General of
Jiangsu Provincial Department of
Culture and Tourism, Curator of
Nanjing Museum

section of the Grand Canal consists of Jiangnan Canal, Huaiyang or technology, or landscape as a whole, showing one or several
Canal and Zhonghe River. Since the Grand Canal was completed important stages in the history of mankind," "it refers to the most
in the Sui Dynasty, Jiangsu has always been a very important trans- important events, traditions, ideas, beliefs, art or literature that
portation hub, as well as an economic and cultural zone in China. have remarkable universal significance." The interpretation of
The Jiangsu section of the Grand Canal flows through eight these criteria leaves plenty of room for imagination to understand
national historical and cultural cities, seven world cultural heritage the landscape value of the Grand Canal heritage.
areas, 28 heritage elements, and more than 5,000 cultural heritage
resource sites of various levels, involving 103 key intangible cultural
heritage projects, ranking the first in various data among provinces
and cities along the Grand Canal. It is exactly the core area of
the Grand Canal heritage. Jiangsu has played an active role in the
protection of cultural relics of the Grand Canal and the applica-
tion process for the UNESCO world heritage. The Jiangsu section
of the Grand Canal is still a "golden waterway" for the national
transportation and the South-to-North Water Diversion Project.
China's Grand Canal is a world cultural heritage, which also has
a strong cultural landscape connotation. In particular, the Jiangsu
section, which accounts for one third of the total length, 46 percent
Qingmingqiao historic district, Wuxi.
of the total heritage area and 40 percent of the total number of
heritage sites, is of great landscape value. To strengthen the pro-
tection and maintainance of the Grand Canal cultural landscape
heritage is not only the need of heritage protection, but also the
need of people's good life today.

The Grand Canal is a world cultural heritage and an important
cultural landscape heritage. The "Operational Guidelines for the
Implementation of the World Heritage Convention" made detailed
interpretation of the criteria of cultural landscape heritage - "as a
creative masterpiece of human genius," "to provide a unique or at
least special witness to existing or already dying of civilization or
Shantang historic district, Suzhou.
culture," "it is an outstanding example of architecture, buildings,