Jinghang Grand Canal and Silk Road were Selected on UNESCO’s List of World Heritage

Overview of Grand Canal

Grand Canal

Grand Canal / Image Source: UNESCO

The Grand Canal and the Silk Road were both selected to UNESCO’S World Heritage list, bringing China’s total number of UN listed heritage sites to 47. 

The Grand Canal is a vast waterway system in the north-eastern and central-eastern plains of China, running from Beijing in the north to Zhejiang province in the south. 

Constructed in sections from the 5thcentury B.C. onwards, Grand Canal was conceived as a unified means of communication for the Empire for the first time in the 7th century A.D (Sui Dynasty). 

This led to a series of gigantic worksites, creating the world’s largest and most extensive civil engineering project prior to the Industrial Revolution. 

It formed the backbone of the Empire’s inland communication system, transporting grain and strategic raw materials, and supplying rice to feed the population. 

By the 13th century it consisted of more than 2,000 kilometres of artificial waterways, linking five of China’s most important river basins. 

It has played an important role in ensuring the country’s economic prosperity and stability and continues today as a major means of internal communication.

Silk Road: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor

Silk Road / Image Source: UNESCO

Silk Road / Image Source: UNESCO

Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor is a 5,000 kilometre section of the extensive Silk Roads network, stretching  from Chang’an/Luoyang, the central capital of China in the Han and Tang Dynasties, to the Zhetysu  Region of Central Asia. This project is jointly applied by China,  Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan.

Silk Road took shape between the 2nd century BC and 1stcentury AD and remained in use until the 16th century, linking multiple civilizations, and facilitating far-reaching exchanges of activities in trade, religious beliefs, scientific knowledge, technological innovation,  cultural practices and the arts. 

The 33  components included in the routes network include capital cities and palace complexes of various empires and Khan kingdoms, trading settlements, Buddhist cave temples, ancient paths, posthouses, passes, beacon towers, sections of The Great Wall, fortifications, tombs and religious buildings.






Resource: 1; 2

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