The Grand Canal of China: A Digital Exhibit for Climate Action
🌍 Introduction
The Grand Canal of China — the world’s longest artificial river — is not only a monument of historical ingenuity, but also a living landscape facing modern challenges. As climate change threatens its integrity through droughts, floods, and urban encroachment, digital heritage tools can play a key role in raising awareness and inspiring sustainable action.
This exhibit explores how digital media can bring this UNESCO World Heritage site into the homes and minds of a global audience — connecting the past with our climate future.Designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2014, the Grand Canal is a vast waterway system in the north-eastern and central eastern plains of China, passing through eight of the country’s present-day provinces. It runs from the capital Beijing in the north to Zhejiang Province in the south. Constructed in sections from the 5th century BC onwards, it was conceived as a unified means of communication for the Empire in the 7th century AD. In the 13th century AD, it could provide a unified inland navigation network consisting of more than 2,000 km of artificial waterways, linking five of the most important river basins in China, including the Yellow River and the Yangtze.
In terms of dealing with difficult natural conditions, the Grand Canal is reflected in many constructions that are fully adapted to the diversity and complexity of circumstances, which is a remarkable and early development of hydraulic engineering and an essential technological achievement before the Industrial Revolution. Additionally, it represents the greatest masterpiece of hydraulic engineering in the history of mankind, because of its very ancient origins and its vast scale, along with its continuous development and its adaptation to circumstances down the ages.
Featured Video VR: A Journey Through the Grand Canal
The naked-eye 5D immersion experience in Exhibition Hall 1 of the China Grand Canal Museum is great. Visitors can travel through different cities along the Grand Canal and enjoy the beautiful scenery and city scenery along the way.
