The world’s longest man-made river cleaned-up

[TaiShang]

Hangzhou cleans up Grand Canal for Cultural Heritage bid
CCTV

Hangzhou has been cleaning up its Grand Canal since 2007 in a bid to get it listed as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site.

This is the Grand Canal in Hangzhou-- the world’s longest man-made river and links the city to China’s capital Beijing. The main river and its tributaries cut across some high populated areas and not too long ago, its waters were unsighty. The canal banks stank of discharge from factories and waste dumped into it by passing residents.

"We didn’t have flushing toilets. The residents used outdoors like a toilet. In the past, the river was awful. It was dirty. Nobody cared. A lot of rubbish. A lot of factories. The waste water from factories was discharged into the river. It was a stinky cesspit," said a resident along Grand Canal.

As the city developed, projects were undertaken over the past 7 years to improve the canal’s water quality. Dirty water in this tributary has been pumped out and riverbed sludge is being removed. It’s a constant work in progress.

"We have widened the river bed to 20 meters. The wider river accommodates more water flow, and the water quality in the tributaries and in the main grand canal has improved," said Hangzhou Gongshu Urban MGMT. Bureau deputy chief Qian Zhiwei.

The river, once a garbbage dumping group of unwanted material, has transformed into supporting life on its own.

"The ecological environment has been restored. There are also signs of green life, which means the river can function on its own," said Qian.

33 million tons of waste water discharge have been reduced annually as over 500 manufacturing facilities were relocated away from the river banks. Then, art and culture took over the empty spaces.

The industrial times of this area is gone. But its factory walls have been transformed with an influx of galleries, shops and offices.

"This building used to be a textile printing factory. Now those enterprises have left. The building now is used for creative and service businesses. We’d like keep this as the memory of the industrial times," said Hangzhou Gongshu Environment Bureau chief Chen Jiansong.

 

[Jlaw]

Maybe your post coincide with this?

China's Grand Canal added to World Heritage list - Xinhua | English.news.cn

 

[Nan Yang]

Hangzhou cleans up Grand Canal for Cultural Heritage bid
CCTV

Hangzhou has been cleaning up its Grand Canal since 2007 in a bid to get it listed as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site.

This is the Grand Canal in Hangzhou-- the world’s longest man-made river and links the city to China’s capital Beijing. The main river and its tributaries cut across some high populated areas and not too long ago, its waters were unsighty. The canal banks stank of discharge from factories and waste dumped into it by passing residents.

"We didn’t have flushing toilets. The residents used outdoors like a toilet. In the past, the river was awful. It was dirty. Nobody cared. A lot of rubbish. A lot of factories. The waste water from factories was discharged into the river. It was a stinky cesspit," said a resident along Grand Canal.

As the city developed, projects were undertaken over the past 7 years to improve the canal’s water quality. Dirty water in this tributary has been pumped out and riverbed sludge is being removed. It’s a constant work in progress.

"We have widened the river bed to 20 meters. The wider river accommodates more water flow, and the water quality in the tributaries and in the main grand canal has improved," said Hangzhou Gongshu Urban MGMT. Bureau deputy chief Qian Zhiwei.

The river, once a garbbage dumping group of unwanted material, has transformed into supporting life on its own.

"The ecological environment has been restored. There are also signs of green life, which means the river can function on its own," said Qian.

33 million tons of waste water discharge have been reduced annually as over 500 manufacturing facilities were relocated away from the river banks. Then, art and culture took over the empty spaces.

The industrial times of this area is gone. But its factory walls have been transformed with an influx of galleries, shops and offices.

"This building used to be a textile printing factory. Now those enterprises have left. The building now is used for creative and service businesses. We’d like keep this as the memory of the industrial times," said Hangzhou Gongshu Environment Bureau chief Chen Jiansong.

Correct me if I am wrong. Does the grand canal really go all the way to Beijing. I understand that the last Northern 1/3 of the grand canal had fallen into disuse.

 

[Aepsilons]

Hangzhou cleans up Grand Canal for Cultural Heritage bid
CCTV

Hangzhou has been cleaning up its Grand Canal since 2007 in a bid to get it listed as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site.

This is the Grand Canal in Hangzhou-- the world’s longest man-made river and links the city to China’s capital Beijing. The main river and its tributaries cut across some high populated areas and not too long ago, its waters were unsighty. The canal banks stank of discharge from factories and waste dumped into it by passing residents.

"We didn’t have flushing toilets. The residents used outdoors like a toilet. In the past, the river was awful. It was dirty. Nobody cared. A lot of rubbish. A lot of factories. The waste water from factories was discharged into the river. It was a stinky cesspit," said a resident along Grand Canal.

As the city developed, projects were undertaken over the past 7 years to improve the canal’s water quality. Dirty water in this tributary has been pumped out and riverbed sludge is being removed. It’s a constant work in progress.

"We have widened the river bed to 20 meters. The wider river accommodates more water flow, and the water quality in the tributaries and in the main grand canal has improved," said Hangzhou Gongshu Urban MGMT. Bureau deputy chief Qian Zhiwei.

The river, once a garbbage dumping group of unwanted material, has transformed into supporting life on its own.

"The ecological environment has been restored. There are also signs of green life, which means the river can function on its own," said Qian.

33 million tons of waste water discharge have been reduced annually as over 500 manufacturing facilities were relocated away from the river banks. Then, art and culture took over the empty spaces.

The industrial times of this area is gone. But its factory walls have been transformed with an influx of galleries, shops and offices.

"This building used to be a textile printing factory. Now those enterprises have left. The building now is used for creative and service businesses. We’d like keep this as the memory of the industrial times," said Hangzhou Gongshu Environment Bureau chief Chen Jiansong.

Sad to see the eutrophication of this river basin. Hopefully it will be rejuvenated in 2-3 decades time.

 

[OrionHunter]

I think we must get these Chinese engineers to clean up the Ganga too! We've wasted more than $300 million but it's got worse!

 

[cirr]

What after China's past glories get recognized by World Heritage Committee

(Xinhua) 08:31, June 23, 2014

China had made marathon journeys before having its 2,400-year-old Grand Canal and itssection of the millennium-old trade route Silk Road inscribed on the World Heritage liston Sunday.

This dual honor has boosted China's national pride. But amid cheers, there is a soberreminder from scholars and officials of the disgrace of resting on past glories in a time ofprofound changes.

Liu Qingzhu, director of the Academic Committee of the Archeology Institute of theChinese Academy of Social Sciences, saw both historical and realistic significance in thepreservation of the two relic sites.

By submitting a joint application for adding part of the Silk Road route to the UNESCOWorld Heritage List with Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, China has a chance to review itsshared ancient memory with its friendly neighbors, he said.

Citing the period under the reign of Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.- A.D. 220) as an example, the director said the trade route's prosperity always coincided withthe political stability and economic flourishing in history.

It was Emperor Wudi who sent general Zhang Qian to make China's first travel to the farwest. The Emperor's idea of seeking political contact with the countries in the far westhad propelled the economic and cultural exchanges between East and West.

"In the Chinese culture, tolerance and harmony are always valued. As the Silk Road is anepitome of such culture, reviving it is of immediate significance," said Liu.

The day before the inscription was announced, Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechireiterated at a peace forum in Beijing that China would carry forward the spirit of theancient Silk Road to work actively to build the Silk Road economic belt and the 21stcentury Maritime Silk Road.

Put forward by Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visit to central and southeastAsian countries last fall, the new Silk Road initiatives revealed China's sincerity toachieve common development for countries along the routes, he said.

In the State Councilor's eyes, the Silk Road has been a synonym for peace, cooperation,openness, inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit.

The Silk Road spirits have been at the forefront of joint application, according to ChenTongbin, chief of the Institute of Historical Research of the China Architecture Designand Research Group.

"Through close cooperation with Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, we identified differencesand at the same time found ways to achieve our common goals. Also through jointapplication, we learn to engage different parties and broaden our horizons to focus on theintegrated value of an initiative," said Chen.

For Dong Bing, chief of the Grand Canal World Heritage Application Office, putting theworld's oldest and longest artificial waterway into the World Heritage List is more like amarathon testing the applicant's stamina and strength.

"Eight years has passed, the success doesn't come easily," said Dong, likening theinscription to "a solemn promise to protect the canal for not just the Chinese but theworld."

Built in B.C. 486, the 1,011-km long Grand Canal is the largest civil engineering project before the Industrial Revolution, revealing the exceptional hydrotechnics and operating capability in the Oriental civilization, according to the evaluation of the UNESCO WorldHeritage Committee.

As the waterway runs through six provincial regions, the application office had tocoordinate a variety of stakeholder to sort out the problems in water conservation,transportation and cultural relic protection.

In ancient China, the orderly management of canal transportation provided theprerequisite to the economic prosperity as it was essential to grain supply.

Nowadays, the cargo handling capacity of the waterway is four times as much as that ofthe Beijing-Shanghai Railway, according to Tong Mingkang, deputy director of the StateAdministration of Cultural Heritage.

"It is hard to imagine for the ancient China to preserve peace and solidarity without asound management of the waterway to facilitate the communication and cooperationamong different regions," said Chen Tongbin.

The secret of sound management nowadays, according to Zheng Hanxian, generalmanager of the Hangzhou Canal Group, is "to give back the waterway to the people."

"Our principles is protection first, ecology first, developing tourism for the people andemphasizing overall management," said Zheng.

Dong Bing said in Yangzhou, a city in Jiangsu Province where the Canal runs through,economic planning department must solicit the opinions of cultural heritage protectiondepartment in writing and may veto any project once it suspects that the relic area mightbe endangered.

Recalling the application work, many officials and scholars agree that an open mind andreverence to history are essential.

Wang Jianxin, an archaeologist with the Northwest University in Xi'an of ShaanxiProvince, said that through the fate of a relic, one can feel the ups and downs in historyand hold the pulse of the changing world.

The Weiyang Imperial City Relic of Han Dynasty in Xi'an, for instance, one of the 33 sitesof the Silk Road relics, used to be the residence of royal and nobles. In Tang Dynasty(618-907), it became a reserved garden for the aristocratic. Till the later Song (960-1276)dynasty, commoners began to swarm in.

As one of China's earlier cultural relic sites, the 4.8-square kilometer-area was slow indevelopment and turned into a shanty town as infrastructure facilities elsewhere in thecity quickly improved in the past decades.

Now, with the 10,000-strong residents relocated, this area has been restored into areserve where many residents would like to go for a stroll on spare time.

"No one can retain the wheel of history. The essence of relic protection is to uphold aculture," said Wang Jianxin.

"In Han Dynasty, the Weiyang Imperial City was the central platform for Sino-foreignexchanges and a fashion town. We can not get back to those days, but we can learn fromthe history to improve our capability of staging cross-cultural dialogues in the age ofInternet," said the archaeologist.

What after China's past glories get recognized by World Heritage Committee - People's Daily Online