China´s Grand Canal Overseas Tourism Promotion Season 2022:
“Henan, Where China Began” The Grand Canal Essence Tour Photo Exhibition

The Grand Canal is the world's earliest and longest canal, connecting the Yellow River, the Huai River, the Yangtze River, the Qiantang River and the Hai River, and was the main artery of north-south transportation in ancient China. It has been in existence for over 2,500 years. In 2014, the Grand Canal was successfully inscribed on the World Cultural Heritage List. Among them, the Grand Canal of Henan mainly refers to Tongji Canal and Yongji Canal of the Sui-Tang Grand Canal and the Huitong River Taiqian Section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, with a proven river length of 686 kilometres.

Where the old canal flowed, merchant ships were constantly travelling and merchants are crowded closely together. In Henan, many of the ancient towns built by the river flourished with the prosperity of the canal. One of the four famous towns in China, Zhu Xian Town, is located in Henan. At the same time, as the centre of the Sui-Tang Grand Canal, Luoyang in Henan Province still has a large amount of valuable canal heritage in Sui-Tang Dynasties Grand Canal Cultural Museum.

In order to display the cultural and tourism resources with the Grand Canal as the core, Chinese Culture Center Berlin and the Department of Culture and Tourism of Henan Province have launched a photo exhibition of three essence tours of the Grand Canal. The tour of experiencing of the ancient capitals along the Canal shows the integration of canal culture and ancient capital culture, the ancient town charm leisure tour shows the agricultural, handicraft and commercial systems bred by the Grand Canal, and the intangible heritage inheritance tour shows the ingenuity of the working people under the nourishment of the Grand Canal.
Intangible cultural heritage travel route