A couple of young tourists from Europe visited Hangzhou simply because they had seen a photo of a three-hole stone arch bridge in an Italian newspaper. With it, they went all the way to the stone stele marked the "Southern End of the Jing-Hang Grand Canal", just to get a glimpse of the ancient Gongchen Bridge, the three-hole stone arch bridge in their photo, on the thousand-year-old canal.

Along the 30-odd-kilometer section of the Grand Canal in Hangzhou's Gongshu district, six out of 20 cultural landmarks, including the Grand Canal Theater and the Grand Canal Central Park, have been opened to the public in 2021, with the rest expected to be unveiled before the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games.

In the Central Green Forest Park in Beijing's Tongzhou district, more than 400 cycling enthusiasts from 50 cycling teams gathered for the 2021 "World Car Free Day" in the buildup to the 2021 "Beijing Hangzhou Dialogue on the Grand Canal". Just a couple of months ago, experts and scholars from China and abroad met in Beijing in an international forum to discuss the environmental development along the Grand Canal.

These are only a few snippets of the "daily life" for the protection and inheritance of the Grand Canal. In fact, the 2021 "Beijing Hangzhou Dialogue on the Grand Canal", held in Hangzhou this time, will further explore new ways and models to better preserve the cultural heritage of the Grand Canal. 

In 2017, a leading group promoting the establishment of national cultural center was set up in Beijing, based on which, eight special working groups, including the one on the construction of the Grand Canal Cultural Belt, were also set up. From then on, Beijing has gone from strength to strength in evacuating key cultural relics, protecting and repairing cultural relics, developing major public cultural facilities and restoring historical features.

Along the Grand Canal Beijing section, some 40 heritage sites can be found, and the canal culture is deeply embedded in waterways, wharfs, warehouses, dams and ancient official offices residences. The 1,400-year-old Randengfo Sheli Pagoda standing at the start of the Bei (North) Canal in Tongzhou district and the 600-year-old Nanxin Granary at Dongsi Shitiao in Dongcheng district are just two cases in point. According to statistics, the six districts that the Beijing section of the Grand Canal goes through boasts of 86 national representative intangible cultural heritage projects and 107 municipal representative intangible cultural heritage projects. The cultural symbols of the Grand Canal permeate every corner of Beijing.

Beijing is now taking the lead in implementing the Outline of the Plan for the Protection, Inheritance and Utilization of the Grand Canal Culture. The city aims to make the Grand Canal Cultural Belt a demonstration project in the process of building Beijing into a national cultural center, a popular project to meet the growing needs of the people and a marquee project in the process of building Beijing into a world-class harmonious and livable city.

In 2020, an exhibition, its fourth edition, with nearly 3,000 pieces of exhibits showcasing the intangible cultural heritage along the Grand Canal was held in Beijing. In addition, "Canal Stories around Me", a campaign to collect real life stories on the Grand Canal, has continued to attract popular support, and lectures on the history and culture of the Grand Canal were also held.

As the area where the canal cultural heritage resources are most concentrated in Beijing, Tongzhou district is carrying out a series of related projects. It is planning to establish a museum on the Grand Canal as well as an archeological museum on the site of the ancient Lu county and other cultural facilities. It has also published "The Cultural Belt of the Grand Canal: Tongzhou Story Series", presenting the Tongzhou story through its waterways, Caoyun Dock and canal folk customs. 

Shan Jixiang, former director of the Palace Museum, said that the Grand Canal contains rich traditional cultural heritage and the cultural genes that drive the country to "forge ahead", and it is the responsibility of the Chinese people to make the cultural heritage "come alive".

Indeed, in addition to protection, how better to let the Grand Canal "walk" into people’s everyday life? One is to integrate the immovable canal cultural heritage with traditional skills and intangible cultural heritage to meet the diversified needs of the public and promote cultural consumption. Another is to combine culture and tourism.

In Hangzhou’s Gongshu district, where Gongchen Bridge, the southern starting point of the Grand Canal lies, various initiatives have been proposed and taken. "Boats coming from Shanghai will pass Gongchen first, then the provincial capital, before reaching Jianggan and travel further deep into the inland," a late-Qing document recorded. While the bridge used to be a point that one must go through to travel to Shanghai, Suzhou, Nanjing, Tianjin and Beijing via the Grand Canal, it and the surrounding area now make a vibrant cultural block. 

Old factory and warehouse have been converted into museums, where cultural activities and interactive experiences take place on a daily basis. During the "Hangzhou Fan Cultural Month", for instance, fan culture-themed performances have been held to replicate the traditional fan-making process. In "Face to Face with the Master of Arts and Crafts", an interactive event launched by the Hangzhou Arts and Crafts Museum recently, visitors are able to try their hands on making the West Lake silk umbrella, playing puppet shows, creating pottery and doing papercutting, among others. 

On both sides of the Grand Canal, melodious operas, singing, music and laughter can always be heard. Statistics from the Gongshu district show that self-organized cultural and sports groups active along the canal are numbered at more than 380, which regularly organize poetry recital, calligraphy, painting, musical instrument playing, singing and assorted cultural activities.

Beijing and Hangzhou have their own unique characteristics in the building of the Grand Canal Cultural Belt. The 2021 Dialogue on the Grand Canal, which will be held in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, is not only a dialogue "crossing thousands of miles and spanning thousands of years", but also a pioneering initiative for cities along the canal to jointly promote the protection, inheritance and utilization of the canal culture.

Figures indicate that there are 520 canals in more than 50 countries and regions around the world, and nearly 3,000 cities along these canals have similar "memories of canal" as the Chinese cities along the Grand Canal, and face similar challenges and opportunities.

"With the canals serving as the link, a global canal community should be formed, so that we can find answers to sustainable development that are applicable to the entire world," this, according to David Edwards-May, president of Inland Waterways International, is the ultimate point.

Published by Beijing United Publishing Co. Ltd., The Legend of the Grand Canal (Beijing Volume) uses original comic strips to tell the story of the canal to the world and helps the Grand Canal culture to reach a global readership. It was written by Liu Endong, illustrated by Zhou Xinxin and Liu Xueqiang, and translated by Nie Jinrong.