Giving the Canal a Grand new look
Online series explores the waterway's enduring importance and the ways it has shaped the lives of those who live along it, Xing Wen reports.
The program brings 20 well-known figures from various fields, including Ma, Duan Zhiqiang, a scholar from the National Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies at Fudan University, architect Zhang Jiajing, philosopher Liu Qing, comedian Liu Yang, and pop idol Liu Yu, together to explore different cities along the Grand Canal.
Their itinerary includes stops in Ningbo, Shaoxing, and Hangzhou in Zhejiang province, Suzhou, Yangzhou, and Huai'an in Jiangsu province, Luoyang and Kaifeng in Henan province, as well as Tianjin and Beijing. More than a decade has passed since the Grand Canal, the world's longest and oldest intact artificial waterway, was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the program seeks to reimagine the canal, taking a multidimensional perspective that integrates the insights provided by the guests.
To illustrate its significance and value, the program is based on a series of day tours during which the guests visit historical locations related to the Grand Canal, and experience local lifestyles firsthand. They later come together to dine and share their experiences and insights from the day.
In one recent episode, some of the participants visited Yangzhou, which dates back to 486 BC when construction of the canal first began.
