SPP drive helps protect Grand Canal's heritage

China's procuratorial authorities handled 1,587 public interest litigation cases in 2025 as it ramped up its efforts to safeguard historical and cultural cities, towns and villages along the Grand Canal, according to data recently released by the Supreme People's Procuratorate.

By mandating remedial action for pressing issues, including damage to cultural relics, destruction of historic landscapes, inadequate preventive conservation and underutilization of heritage sites, procuratorial public interest litigation has effectively shored up the protection of cultural heritage assets, the SPP stated.

As the world's longest artificial waterway, the canal boasts a history of approximately 2,500 years and runs through eight provincial-level regions, including Beijing, Anhui and Zhejiang. Numerous historical and cultural cities, towns and villages dot the course of the Grand Canal.

The operation kicked off in February 2025, when the SPP's public interest litigation procuratorial department launched a special oversight initiative targeting heritage protection along the canal.

During case investigations, prosecutors found that the weak enforcement of grassroots protection duties and poor cross-departmental coordination had left many relics vulnerable. Years of neglect and insufficient maintenance led to structural cracks, decaying components and, in some cases, risk of imminent collapse.

Unauthorized construction and indiscriminate domestic waste dumping were also rife, severely damaging the historic character of these sites. Inefficiencies in daily supervision and a lack of fire safety infrastructure further exposed cultural relics to major risks.

To mitigate this, procuratorial organs ramped up collaboration with departments including housing and urban-rural development and culture and tourism throughout 2025. Their joint efforts resolved 1,578 cases of physical damage to cultural relics, rectified 832 violations that harmed historic landscapes, and cleared over 53,500 square meters of illegal structures within heritage protection zones, effectively curbing the deterioration of cultural heritage.

Case reviews also uncovered a prevailing bias toward "rescue over prevention" in heritage conservation across some canal-side regions. Incomplete relic surveys and registries, flawed intangible cultural heritage inheritance mechanisms, and inadequate hazard assessments resulted in the ineffective protection of numerous "dormant cultural relics". Several national-level intangible cultural heritage projects even faced the risk of dying out due to a shortage of successors.

According to the SPP, these issues highlight critical flaws in the current upstream heritage protection system, including gaps in policy frameworks and imbalanced allocation of conservation resources. To address these weaknesses, procuratorial organs nationwide have prioritized strengthening preventive protection measures, building a comprehensive system covering relic survey and identification, risk control, and heritage inheritance and development.

In a canal-side ancient town, the national-level intangible cultural heritage of woodblock new year paintings was at high risk of inheritance disruption and inadequate intellectual property protection. Beyond implementing legal safeguards, local procuratorates assisted administrative authorities in building a cultural industry park and promoted the improvement of local legislation.

Authorities also tackled underdeveloped digitalization and superficial utilization of these historic sites. Many ancient heritage buildings lay idle and neglected, unable to reach their cultural and potential economic value.

Procuratorial organs have also pushed for the establishment of a long-term governance model centered on functional activation and industrial empowerment.

For instance, when a national-level intangible cultural heritage folk event in a canal-side historical and cultural village was suspended for years and faced the threat of extinction, procuratorial authorities issued recommendations to relevant departments, urging them to fulfill their obligations to protect intangible cultural heritage.

The event was subsequently revived, boosting local residents' annual incomes by over 500,000 yuan ($72,000) and achieving dual benefits for cultural inheritance and rural revitalization.

In 2025 alone, procuratorial efforts helped convert 48 protected sites into cultural and educational venues, facilitated the launch of 68 cultural and tourism projects, and secured 699 million yuan in special conservation funding — forging a positive cycle between heritage protection and sustainable development.

The SPP noted that procuratorial organs will continue to prioritize the coordinated advancement of rescue and preventive conservation. They will also deepen collaboration with relevant departments to establish a regular working mechanism, pooling collective efforts to safeguard the Grand Canal's cultural heritage.