The Grand Canal

A splendid view of the Jiangsu section of the Grand Canal at dusk.[Photo/jstour.com]

As the world's longest man-made canal, the Grand Canal is one of the greatest hydraulic projects in human history. It stretches 1,794 kilometers from Beijing, passing through Tianjin and the provinces of Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu, Anhui and Zhejiang's Hangzhou and connecting the Haihe, Yellow, Huaihe, Yangtze and Qiantang rivers. As an artery connecting northern and southern China, it has long contributed to the nation's prosperity.

The Grand Canal became the 46th of China's World Heritage sites at the 38th World Heritage Convention in Doha, capital of Qatar on June 22, 2014. There are six river channels and 22 historical sites in Jiangsu province, accounting for 40 percent of all the historical remains of the Grand Canal, which include classic gardens, old city walls, city gates, towers and temples.

Traditional houses along the Grand Canal in Jiangsu province. [Photo/jstour.com]

Jiangsu's 683-kilometer long canal is still in use today. With the Yangtze River as a division line, its northern section is used for shipping coal while its southern section handles bulk building materials. In 2006, the historical sites of the Grand Canal in Jiangsu became a national key cultural relic under state protection.

Digging of the Grand Canal began in the Spring and Autumn period ((770-476 BC) in Yangzhou city, which later developed into one of the central cities during the reign of Emperor Suiyang of the Sui dynasty (AD581—618).

To help tourists to get a full vision of the Grand Canal in Jiangsu, Yangzhou cooperated with Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou, Huai'an, and Suqian to launch five boutique tour routes in the province in 2015. Every year a growing number of tourists follow those routes to explore the beauty of the Grand Canal in Jiangsu.

Beautiful nightscape along the Jiangsu section of the Grand Canal. [Photo/jstour.com]