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East China city issues regulation to protect world heritage waterway

Xinhua, May 1, 2017 Adjust font size:

Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, has rolled out a regulation to protect its section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, the world's longest man-made canal.

The regulation has been approved by the standing committee of the provincial people's congress and took effect Monday.

In June, 2014, UNESCO included the Grand Canal, with a history of more than 2,400 years, in the World Heritage list. The 1,011-km-long waterway, running from Beijing to Hangzhou, is the largest civil engineering project to pre-date the Industrial Revolution.

As the south end of the canal, Hangzhou is home to five river channels and six key historical sites along the world heritage waterway.

"The current canal faces threats from both natural erosion and humans' overuse and development," said sources with the comprehensive protection committee of the Hangzhou-section of the Grand Canal.

The regulation bans construction that may threaten the safety of historical sites and the environment along the canal.

Facilities that already threaten the safety of the waterway or have polluted the canal should be removed or dismantled, according to the regulation. Endi