China's Grand Canal cleaner thanks to litigation

NANJING - A litigation campaign has helped cleanse China's Grand Canal and galvanized conservation efforts for the historical site, prosecutors said in a forum.

Since the public interest litigation campaign, initiated by the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) in February 2020, prosecutors had opened 464 investigations, the forum explained. It took place on Thursday in Yangzhou, in East China's Jiangsu province.

The campaign pooled law enforcement efforts along the 3,200-km-long artificial canal, the world's longest man-made waterway.

The law enforcement was based on the SPP's extensive on-site investigation along the canal, said Hu Weilie, a senior prosecutor.

More importantly, it generates an array of coordination mechanisms for further law enforcement, added Hu.

Zhang Xueqiao, deputy procurator-general of the SPP, promised to join hands with executive authorities and take the coordination and cooperation on the protection of the Grand Canal to a higher level and at a broader spectrum.

The SPP will review the closed cases and press for a conclusion of those in process in the second half of the year, the forum said.

With a history of more than 2,500 years, the Grand Canal connects Beijing and Hangzhou in East China's Zhejiang province, serving as a significant transportation artery in ancient China.

An over 1,000-km-stretch of the canal was declared a world heritage site in 2014.